


I forgive us

by horrorriz



Series: Unspoken truths [1]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Anxiety, Blood and Violence, Denial, Denial of Feelings, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Episode: s04e13 A Beautiful Darkness, Episode: s04e14 Reunion, Episode: s04e15 The Sinking Ship The Grand Applause, Fix-It, Gotham (TV) Season/Series 04 Fix-it, Love, M/M, Nygmobblepot, Pining, Slow Burn, leading up to the infamous pier scene, pier scene rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-08-04 04:50:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16340120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/horrorriz/pseuds/horrorriz
Summary: Oswald and Edward have a lot to work through, and a lot on their minds. How could they possible get over their past? Realize the feelings dwelling deep inside them, simmering just below the surface wanting to get out, wanting to give in.Fear and denial over the everlasting question, are they in fact more than just enemies?Love is sacrifice, after all.





	1. Arkham Asylum

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in frustration of the queerbaiting and the pure feels this ship gives me, and it's grown quite close to my heart. 
> 
> I'm sorry for hurting Oswald so much in this chapter but I hope you'll forgive me!
> 
> Happy reading!

Oswald was sat fiddling the edges of the note, that in a way promised to help him escape, let him out of this awful place.

At first glance he had been overjoyed, that the... Sigh, he still refused to admit his name. The other Ed, was still in there. The part of Ed which had taken Oswald home to nourish him back to health after being wounded, the one giggling like a teenage girl asking for _murder advice_ , if that wasn’t adorably awkward he didn't know what was.

When his rationality caught up with him and the languishing thoughts, he threw the note on the floor in protest of his own mind. _No. Stop thinking like this, stop getting your hopes up._ He internally stated to himself.

Ed shot him and he would do it again. He would never see the favor he had done for him, even when it ended up unlocking his true self, however annoying that version may be. If anything, he should be thanking Oswald.

A knock on the door woke Oswald up from his burrowing reflections.  

"This is an asylum, who knocks?"

He muttered to himself while he limped to the door to look out the tiny cell window, only having time to catch a glimpse of orange hair before the door smacked open right into his face.

 

"Heelloooo little birdy friend, I thought it was about time we met properly!"

Jerome walked through the door opening, arms out, grinning through the now healed stitches on his face. Somehow he managed to make the normally awful Arkham uniform look clean and elegant.

"...What, you're not here?"

He glanced around at the seemingly empty room until he some angry grumbling could be heard behind the door, before it was shoved away and Oswald staggered forward. He held his sleeve to his nose in an attempt to stop the flow of blood pouring out of it. The result of meeting a steel door by force, not how he had wanted to start his day.

“Now WHAT was the rationale of that, and what are you doing here. Leave me alone.”  
The injured man limped to the bed and sat down, making dust particles spiral out in the room. Arkham was all but a clean and hygienic place.

 

"Now now, what's with the grumpy attitude?"

Jerome made a face and jumped up to sit on the tiny desk in the room, dangling his legs like a little kid.

 

Oswald laid down, dragging his blanket over his head and muttering again. All but in the mood for socialization.

"Please go away."

 

Jerome frowned.

"See you're no fun at all, and I don't like boring.”

He made a theatrical yawn as if his words weren’t clear enough.

“I’m going to cure you out of this attitude Oswald.  
I’m gonna find that entertaining guy, I _know_ is inside of you.”

 

He jumped down to head for the door, but stopped on the discovery of the formerly origami penguin Ed had given to Penguin. Jerome picked up the note and quickly glanced over the words while Oswald was still hiding under his blanket trying to ignore him, hoping he would just leave.

 

 _"I am held captive all day. My brilliance locked away. This prison must be broken. The key? My name, which must be spoken."_ the note read.

 

"Huh.." Jerome murmured and put the note in the pocket as heads for the door, stopping on the last step to get a last peek of the troubled and clearly dull shape under the blanket.

He opened his mouth to say something but stopped last minute, and proceeded to simply turn around and walk out, closing the door with a clear thump after him.

Surely, there was much more _fun_ ways this could play out. All he needed was an audience.

 

***

 

Oswald walked into the lounge the next day, with heavy steps and dragging his bad foot after him. It already being full of the usual hysteria of the moronic inmates he was forced to reside alongside, he had always felt like the odd one out in there. Repeatedly being wrongfully put into this house of lunatics. Time after time, even though the obvious exhibited that he did not belong. Why did no one see he wasn’t the insane one? It's not his fault that he's smart, or that he was repeatedly betrayed and framed. Perhaps they did know, but in Gotham no one really did care, did they? In a way they were all crazy. Why not make the entire city into a madhouse while they were at it?

 

He sat down at one of the tables and reached for the note in his pocket out of habit. Eyes widened when his fingers were left grasping for thin air and the empty inside of his pocket. The panic grew larger and he stood up to turn both pockets inside out, desperately looking around for the note, in case he had simply just dropped it nearby.

He might have been conflicted about Ed, trying to drown the meaningless hope, but he still couldn't help hoping anyway... That was what the piece of paper was to him, hope, a beacon of light in the darkest of days.

How could he have lost the note!?

 

"Looking for this?"

 

Oswald looked up to find Jerome dangling the note in front of him.

His first thought was to make a clumsy move to jump and grab it, but his better judgement knew prevailed. Instead he just calmly sat down again, eyes down, tightening his fist in an effort to get a hold of himself.

 

"Hellooooo? Little bird. I'm talking to you, or have you gone deaf by the screams at night?" Jerome chuckled at his own faltering joke.

With no response coming from the Penguin, Jerome’s patience started growing thin, annoyance taking over. Although he only frowned as he started pricking Oswald with the strange dual cutlery. Arkham insisted the sporks were good and safe tools for eating that also saved cost on additional cutlery... Was everything in this city nothing but a big joke?

 

"I told you to leave me alone." Oswald muttered with a cold and bored tone. He tried to keep it together, seem indifferent while he thought of a plan to get his note back. Someone like Jerome who seemingly had the whole asylum in the palm of his hand, required more than a strike on impulse.

 

Valeska had stopped torturing Oswald, physically at least, and had proceeded to steal his Jell-O, spitting out red tiny, wobbly pieces while he spoke.

"This piece of paper clearly means something to you, even if I find the riddle or whatever trash it’s supposed to be, rather boring. Did I mention I hate boring?"

 

“Only every time you open your wide gnarled mouth…”

Oswald continued to snarl, mostly to himself, lucky for him, the ginger clown of a man didn’t seem to have noticed.

 

Jerome smirked and put the note back in his pocket as he turned his back on Oswald.

 

"Let's-"

 

Some of the other inmates, clearly acting on Jerome's orders, grabbed Oswald as he nervously fought their tight grips to break free.

 

"-put up a real show shall we?"

 

The other inmates giggles and laughs echoed as Jerome pulled out a chair, scraping it loudly in a screeching sound across the floor. He sat down, wide legged, and began munching from a bowl of popcorn no one was sure how he had gotten a hold of.

 

Oswald was dragged up onto a table, screaming and kicking, all but willing to be played into one of Valeska’s little games.

The rest of the audience of lunatics, equipped with a flashlight each, pointed the lights in his face as to replicate spotlights. He shielded his face with his arms from the blinding rays

 

"Now then, go on. Make me _laugh_." Jerome demanded while he stuffed his face full of popcorn.  
  
  
Oswald gave him the glare of the century, a proper display of the stubborn Penguin tantrum he was known for by now, no one messes with the Penguin, even when he was beaten down to his knees.

He tried to step down but was immediately stopped and pushed back into place.

"I will NOT." he finally declares as a response.

 

"You know, I was excited to finally have a chance of getting to know the infamous and city wide feared Penguin.

I expected great things when you got admitted. Thought you'd at the very last would have some fire in you, a few murder attempts, perhaps a break out attempt.”

Jerome fiddled with his gloves to appear nonchalant.

“But all you've done since you arrived six weeks ago has been moping.  
BOOOORIIING.  
Now get started already or I'll have to suffocate someone by shoving popcorn down their throat as a warm up show."

 

A hand belonging to someone that intended to steal some popcorn slowly retreated it…  
  
  
  
"You don't know what I've been through, the betrayals and the pain I've suffered.  
I'm tired, why can't you just leave me alone?!"

Penguin cried out with misery and desperation in his voice.

 

Jerome sighed and threw the popcorn aside before standing up to stretch his limbs, and marching to Penguin.

"Oswald Oswald… You are trapped, in a prison, right, here!”

 

Oswald flinched for the press of fingers tapping his forehead.

 

“Next time, be sure to make me laugh or there won't be any more time for crying."

He gave his people a nonchalant wave, getting grins as affirmation to immediately jump Oswald and start beating him up.

 

“I told you Pengy, I’m gonna cure you of this sad sad moping act.”

He called over his shoulder as he left the room.

 

***

 

  
Oswald grabbed his bad leg and pulled it up onto the small hard bed.He curled up, hugging his legs as he rested his back against the cold concrete wall. He took a short and strained breath and grimaced over the pain, bruises started to show all over his body, his face had several lacerations, some still bleeding. Tears began to silently fall down his cheeks, and soon his face wrinkled up in a muffled sob.

 

Jerome was right, all he had done since he arrived had been moping. But in his defense he had every reason to. All the pain, all the betrayal... It never ended.

He thought that at least in here he could have a chance of solitude, but naturally there was never a chance of respite for the Penguin…

Maybe this what they called karma, for all the bad he had done. But it wasn't exactly as if he had chosen this life originally. Sure, he embraced it a little too much with open arms... Still, who could blame him? To finally have the power to get back at the likes of those who had treated him wrong throughout his entire youth. But who is he kidding? They still did, the bullies were just smarter and more dangerous now.

His mother always used to tell him that he was so much better than them, that he was going to be a great man one day. She wasn't wrong, he thought. Oswald had been the King of Gotham, the mayor himself and the very top of his criminal empire with a tight grip on the city and influence greater than the GCPD itself.

Oh if his mother could have seen him when he was elected mayor, she would have been so proud... His father’s noble smile beamed alongside her.

 

The tears wouldn't stop falling and he felt the desire of howling along with the rest of the asylum.

Oswald smacked the back of his head into the wall in pure frustration, immediately regretting the lash as the pain flashed over him. He buried his face between his knees, and within short his dirty, worn asylum uniform started getting wet from the yet increasing tears.

 

Memories came flashing by at a rapid speed now, flooding his mind with all his past losses all at once. Breaking him down more with each recollection. It was like the last few years had finally caught up to him.

He had come so far since he had started out as Fish Mooney's umbrella boy, still clueless of the city and all its darkness. He was simply delighted over the achievement of having managed to get a job so close to one of the city's most influential people, criminal or not. She was like his adoptive mother, in a way. As it was through her, he had really became the notorious Penguin, after he pushed her off that roof. As he held her bleeding out on him during her the second, and final death, she begged him to make the city his or burn it to the ground.

A promise he intended to keep, no matter what.

 

He took a deep but shaky breath between the sobs. You’d think that he of all people would be immune to the isolating torture, especially this being his second run.

  
While Fish was his adoptive mother, that would make Don Falcone his adoptive father. Likewise he had seen Penguin’s full potential. And Sofia… Falcone’s own daughter, she.. She… Oswald clenched his fist in anger.

 

He would get out of here, he would get his sweet revenge for the tricks she pulled on him. Gaining his trust, making him believe he had a friend. He had no friends. It was better this way, not to have any attachments. It’s like Ed said… Love makes us weak.

  
It felt like a knife sliced his heart, he groaned from phantom pain. Sticks and stones never hurt as much as words, or even more, memories of feeling.

He whimpered while trying to curl up to make himself even smaller, a desperate attempt to hold his hollow chest together before he bled out on that very mattress.

Too many times he had allowed love to be his downfall. His mother… Ed… And now Martin.  
He distantly stared into the wall, wishing he had a window. He wondered where his boy was.. If he was ok.. It was his fault this had happened to Martin, just because once again he had been selfish enough to let someone get dangerously close to him.

Since Ed’s betrayal, he didn’t think he could ever love again.

He had been the first one he truly cared about since, not counting the deceiving notions of friendship from the devious Sofia Falcone.

But this was different. He could imagine Martin growing up by his side, with Oswald teaching him every trick in the book of organized crime. Oh he would be spectacular.

Raising his head slightly from his shielded position he smiled softly, tears still wet on his cheeks. He could see it clearly. Coming down the stairs in the morning at his father’s mansion to find Martin with a puzzled expression, as he tried to solve a riddle of Ed’s. Who lurked behind him, wearing a question mark decorated apron and making him pancakes for breakfast…  
No.

  
He snapped out of it, dragging his fingers down his face, trying to shake the fantasy.  
Ed betrayed him, he didn’t love him back and he never would. He will never forgive him for what Oswald did to Isabell-...A. He frowned over remembering her name correctly.

He didn’t know if what he had done was righteous or not. He did it out of love, but like Ed had said, it was selfish, and love is selflessness… He wanted Ed for himself. He was better for him after all, the only one who could see him for who he was and love him anyway. And he would have eventually killed Isabella just like Miss Kringle and he would never have forgiven himself. Oswald couldn’t bear the thought of Ed beating himself up for that, if he had just let that play out. He had to step in, to protect Ed.

Oswald sighed. But the ice, he had no excuse for that. He was just so mad, so heartbroken and beaten. He refused to leave it like that, but still couldn’t make himself kill him. No, freezing Ed was the best he could have done in that impossible situation. He thought that the constant reminder would make him refrain from making the same mistake. Freezing his emotions together with Ed in that block of ice.

Look where it got him, the complete opposite. He trusted someone and he had to pay for it, again.

Sofia… His face wrinkled in rage. The snake for pretending to be his friend when he was weak and still recovering from heartbreak. He should have seen it coming. He didn’t have friends anymore. Even Jim who he once saw as his friend, had taken her side.. Despite knowing what she did to Don Falcone.  
No.  
He would get out of here. He would find a way to get Martin to safety and he would have his revenge on Sofia. No one was going to make him weak again, no one was going to push him down again.

 

***

 

  
The next day Jerome came to see Oswald at the lounge as per usual.

“So, have you had some time to think about yesterday?”

Jerome bent down his upper body with arms behind his back in level with Oswald and gave him a playful smirk.  
  
  
Surprisingly, Oswald turned around to face him and returned the smirk.

“As a matter of fact, I have.”

Jerome was infamous for his adamant ways, but even he seemed startled by the Penguin’s sudden change of attitude. He however quickly recovered and put his well polished act back up.  
“Well isn’t that a surprise! What’s on your min-”

Before letting the snappy ginger man finish, Oswald grabbed his spork and threateningly held it out towards Jerome.

 

“Yes, that is a spoon.”

He merely commented.

 

“But it is also a _fork_!”

Oswald replied, but it soon became clear that his sad excuse of a threat wouldn’t even so much as get a giggle out of the other man.

He had to think of something, and he had to do it fast. What would satisfy a circus boy with a preference for violence like Jerome Valeska?  
An idea started to take form, it wasn’t the best, but it was all he had if he intended to survive his stay at this house of lunatics. **  
** **  
** “You said, this prison was all in my mind. Maybe… I’m in a prison right now!  
A prison, where you can’t get to me!”  
  
Oswald swiftly held up his palms in the air, making Jerome tilt his head in confusion, shrug and keep moving forward.

Smiling to himself Cobblepot started to pretend to be touching an invisible glass, feeling his way around to give the expression he was trapped into a box.  
A small grin ignited in Valeska, and him being the entertainer he was considering his circus past, played along without a blink, pretending to walk right into the glass. Gaining a puzzled expression he tried to find his way in without much luck.

Oswald kept feeling his way around the invisible box and discover a pretend opening. Jerome goes to find it as well and just as he gets through it, Oswald lands a punch right in his face, making him lose his balance. Jerome wiped off the blood of his broken lip with the back of his hand, licking it off with a smile.

Oswald thought that clearly his plan had worked better than expected, but this was his chance to show him he’s not as helpless as he seemed to think, and he intended to take it.

  
The small man grabbed Valeska by the shoulders and shoved his knee into his stomach, making the younger man fold of the pain, yet it only made his smile wider.

Oswald threw himself onto Jerome looking more like a wild animal than a man, screaming while he threw punch after punch, channeling all the pain and thoughts from the previous night.  
Jerome just laughed, getting bloodier with each punch. Whether the Penguin knew it or not, he got just what he wanted. A reaction, to drag Oswald back into reality and show him who he really was.

All beaten up, Valeska paid no attention to Oswald smuggling out the note from his pocket. Which had been the main motive of this move all along, despite what Jerome might think. The Penguin always had a plan, and it was usually five steps ahead.

 

***

 

  
Later that day Oswald was sat at the small desk of his cell, pen in hand and working on some sort of letter when Jerome came bursting in. How he made his way around this place without any guards even so much as blinking in response, was a mystery to Oswald. But on the other hand, there was no longer Dr.Strange to torture them all into obedience. He shook with chills as the memories surfaced.

“I didn’t think you had it in you.” Jerome said from Oswald’s bed which he had laid down in like it was his own.

“You made your point.  
Now I’m busy, so if you please excuse me.”

He kept scribbling words onto the paper.

Jerome sat up on the edge of the bed, staring a hole into Cobblepot’s neck.

“You could use a friend in here. Places like this can be.. Harsh, unless you know the right people. Now when you’ve showed you’re just as crazy as the rest of us.”

“It doesn’t matter, I won’t be staying long anyway.”

He stood up and limped towards the door, just in time for the mail wagon to pick up his letter, addressed “Edward Nygma, The Narrows”.


	2. The Narrows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lee sends Ed on a mission to collect a refill for her stock of drugs at the makeshift clinic in the Narrows.
> 
> Something that proves too difficult to do without the help of his altar The Riddler...

Ed strolled the streets of the Narrows. He was in quite a jolly mood as Lee had entrusted him to get some medical supplies off a rather... Difficult person.

 

_"Why the big grin? Careful, a little wider and you'll be mistaken for me."_

The Riddler chuckled from the reflection of a window.   


Ed turned his head back straight forward and kept walking, trying to ignore him.   
  
_"Oh come on. You cannot outrun me, I'm you, remember?"_

He grinned.  


"I'm NOT you and I never will be!"

Ed clearly told himself out loud, making passersby turn their head in confusion. He reached for a small box of pills in his pocket and poured out a couple in his hand to throw them in, struggling to swallow them dry.

  


He stopped outside the address Lee had given him, looked down at a note to make sure it was correct, yet to trust his broken mind again.

Two big glass doors greeted him, it looked like a run down hospital. He took a deep breath and stepped in.   
The inside looked as deserted as the outside, surely, no one could work in a unsanitary facility like this? He kept walking, trying to find his way to the inventory, hospitals in Gotham tended to have a similar layout so if he was right it would be two flights up.   
Lights flickered in the staircase. He didn’t dare take the elevator in case it suddenly stopped working with him in it.   
He seemed to be right about the second floor as the line of signs when entering the hallway told him that the inventory was straight forward, fifth door to the right. He kept walking with determined steps when he felt a presence move in the corner of his eye.

A large, slightly obese man stepped into his line of vision. Arms crossed, two smaller guys stepped out from behind him, pointing guns at Ed.   


“What is your business here? This is private property.”

The man stated with a deep, cold voice, his henchmen loading the guns for added effect to the threat.  


Ed cluelessly smiled.

“Oh. I was sent here by The Doc to receive supplies, you see we’ve been having terrible issues with this virus lately and it’s really gotten out of hand so she sent me here to get it and it was this address and I’m sure I’m at the right place so-...”  


The man interrupted Ed’s rambling by taking another step forward into the flickering light, revealing a scarred face.

“The Doc sent you?”  


Another sheepish grin lit up Ed’s face.

“Yes, she’s quite lovely isn’t she? Doing quite the work to clean up the Narro-...”

He didn’t get the chance to finish the sentence before the smaller men had picked him up in one arm each, and ruthlessly dragged him down the stairs to throw him out on the street.

 

Ed groaned as he struggled to stand up again. Riddler smiled from the reflection of the front doors.   
  
_"That didn't go so well did it?"_   
  
Ed brushed dust off his suit.

"I thought I told you to leave." he said coldly.

  
_"We've been over this, I cannot!_

_Now. Do you want my help or not? What would dear beloved Lee think of you if you came back empty handed..._

_Oh I'm so sorry Lee, as I'm dumb I just went straight up to ask and got kicked out in the streets._

_And nobody likes a stupid guy, especially someone as clever and tactical as miss Thompkins."_

  
Ed didn't reply. Lee had offered to help him get his mind back, in time. Not being able to complete simple tasks as this didn’t exactly improve his chances of that being sooner rather than later. He didn't have a choice, for the moment Riddler were the smarter of the two. He stared at the pill bottle he had taken out in habit to get rid of the Riddler. Reluctantly he put it back into his pocket this one time.

  
_"Splendid!"_

Riddler smiled with all his teeth.

 _"Now first I need you to buy a bottle of cheap liquor on the corner shop of 34th. While you’re in the neighbourhood, the guy at the pawn shop could use a deal for his.. Side business. Also, pick up a box of doughnuts while you’re at it.”_   
  
Ed looked puzzled but decided not to ask and did what he was instructed, but letting Riddler do the talking. He wasn’t sure what side business the pawn shop owner had but he did hand over a box with chemical components and what looked like parts of a couple of comradios. The green spray paint made the least sense.   


 

Ed once again found himself in front of the two big glass doors of the hospital, Riddler’s reflection looking back on him.  


_“One more thing. My hat, please.”_

His smile was mocking Ed, he didn’t actually need the hat to switch but he knew that it would add salt to the wound.   
  
Reluctantly, Ed took out the hat buried among the other things in the bag. For a moment he just held it in both hands, realizing what it meant to put it on, by his own free will. It was a win for The Riddler, 0-1 and Ed had a feeling this was a battle he was bound to lose.   


Though what he had been doing with Lee wasn’t exactly completely legal, it was miles from what he had been doing before. She also seemed to prefer this softer side of him rather than Riddler, in a way he did too.   
He took a deep breath and sighed, accepting the desperate situation, he put the hat on.   


  
“Excellent. Now where is that homeless guy we walked past earlier…”

 

Searching around he quickly found him, half asleep, during the middle of the day, beside a dumpster in a narrow alley.  
Riddler buttoned up his collar, straightened out his jacket as much as possible with Ed’s constant neglect to it and took out the leather gloves from the pocket.

He cleared his throat and carefully tapped the shoulder of the homeless person surrounded by beer cans and general trash. He was fast asleep. Riddler cleared his throat again, louder this time and kicked him slightly. Nothing. He kicked harder, still no response. Getting frustrated he took one of the half empty cans and poured it over him. Finally, he woke up and looked disorientedly around him. Struggling to focus his sight, he finally noticed Riddler, and squinting his eyes, he asked with disarray the first thought that came to mind.

“You got any booze?  


The Riddler sighed even though he knew exactly that it was the reply he would be getting.

“How about a job?”

  
“Will there be booze?”

The man replied with a monotone, tired voice.  


Riddler shook his head to himself with a mixture of disgust and lost hope in humanity.

The move of taking out a bottle of whiskey from the bag instantly got the man’s attention, as he suddenly leaped forward to grab it.

Riddler, fast on his feet and well… Sober, just held the bottle out of reach the man.    
“The job.” He repeated.   


“What about it?”

The man continued to reach for the bottle, but he struggled with his balance off.   


“Do this job for me and this and-”

Riddler took out the box of fresh doughnuts.

“-this will be yours.”

  


While walking back towards the hospital, mostly wobbling for the homeless guy, Riddler fiddled with the radios and the other components acquired from the pawn shop.   


Before sending in the homeless man, which Riddler didn’t even see the point of asking for the name of, he spray painted a big, green question mark on the lid of a box. Grinning widely, he handed the mystery box to the man and went to hide nearby, waiting for his plan to be set in motion.  


 

The man struggled to stumble up the two flights of stairs, holding hard onto the railing, not exactly keeping a low profile. So on the last step, the three men Ed had previously encountered were waiting for him, guns out and ready.   


“Get out immediately or we will shoot to kill.”

One of the smaller men said, he was lanky, but the rifle he held made up for it.   


A robotic like sound suddenly echoed within the walls of the stone stairs. Riddler had slipped a comradio into the homeless man’s pocket and was listening in on the conversation.   
“I have a proposition.” He declared.   


The other minion standing to the leader’s right whispered.

“It’s the man from before.”

The big man rolled his eyes, idiots, he thought.  


Not seeing the threat in a homeless man holding a box he decided to play along for a while. It was, after all, a pretty boring job. He could use some fun for once.  
“Let’s hear it then. But make it fast, I don’t have a lot of patience for idiots.”

He glanced to his henchmen who were still busy trying to make out were the sound came from.   


_“Who would press the trigger before seeing their target?_   
Answer correctly and the contents of this box are yours. Answer incorrectly, and… Well. I’ll let that one be a surprise as well. Also as you seem like such lovely men I’ll give you not one but two chances for a correct answer! Isn’t that so generous of me?”

Riddler continued, chuckling in the radio.  


The big man seemed to think for a few seconds before taking up his gun to shoot the homeless guy in the head.

“I don’t care. Get the box boys.”  


The two smaller men went to receive the box but before they got there, the box opened and thick, green gas filled the room. Dead man’s grip.  
All three began coughing, gasping for air while they fell to their knees, rapidly losing consciousness.   


“A moron.”

Riddler came in through the smoke wearing a gas mask, his slight chuckle sounded distorted through the mask.   
He received the key from the belt of the big man and entered the the supply room. Whistling a happy melody, he collected all medicines he could carry into a couple of duffel bags.   


On his way out, just as he was beginning to head down the stairs, the big guy lifted his arm to point a gun towards Riddler. Little did he know that the gas was not only toxic, but highly flammable. So upon firing the shoot, everything around him went up in flames.   


“Always trying to solve things with violence.” Riddler made his way out leaving smoke, fire and screams of despair behind him.  


  
***

 

  
“This isn’t everything.”

Lee had a questioning look, but it was a statement, not a question.  


“Some unforeseen variables led to a.. Situation which needed to be taken care of. A small part of the medicines had to be offered for the big picture.”

Ed looked at the floor in shame, fiddling with the hat behind his back. He had not known what exactly Riddler had promised the pawn shop owner, turns out his business was illegal narcotics.  


“Ed… We needed all of it…”   


Ed felt a stab in both his heart and his pride, not to mention his hope. Lee would never want to fix him now. He had let Riddler out for nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit it, I am terrible at writing riddles, I hope you laughed as much as I did at writing that one hahaha.  
> This was a tough chapter as it is a original idea rather than following canon, I like filling the gaps we don't get to see on the show.
> 
> Also thank you as always to my dear friend KingpinCobblepot for betareading and correcting <3 Be sure to check out her fics, as she is not only my beloved fic buddy but also a big inspiration and motivation to keep writing. Without her this fic wouldn't had been finished at all. 
> 
> As always, please give kudos and comments to keep motivation up!  
> I will attempt to post a chapter weekly for this one.


	3. Showdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was entertainment night in the Narrows, everyone gathering to see the unstoppable force of the pale monster of a man that kept them safe.  
> Ed fights the other part of himself under the spotlight of the performance, afraid to admit the truths he was telling.

Later that night Nygma was getting ready for another entertaining show, warming up the public which had grown to like his ability for theatrics.  
Riddler studied Ed from the mirror while he was fixing his tie and some other last minute touches to his costume. A mocking/satiew version of the Penguin. Oswald being such a high-grade criminal, well known in the shadows of Gotham, and since his role as mayor the previous year, there were few people that didn’t know his name.  
While the rest of the city tried to keep their opinions quiet from the crippled man having a city in the snowglobe of his hand, afraid of being hunted down for it.  
The Narrows worked differently, they were used to the oppression, being put last and being punished simply for being “lesser citizens” of Gotham.  
So mocking a potentially vitally dangerous crime lord? Just another Friday night’s amusement.  
Ed was their voice, combining what he had learned from his past involvement with the man, with his comedic side, making it the perfect show, and they loved it.  
Naturally, so did Ed, this was what he was born to do, not kill people like the Riddler... Sure they had their similarities, same preference for riddles. But Ed was his own person, not needing that awful side, he destroyed everything Ed ever loved.

 _  
“You mean I was doing what you were thinking all along, just too afraid to act on it?”_ Riddler chuckled from the mirror.

  
“Is that why you killed Miss Kringle?”

_  
“I killed Miss Kringle? I wasn’t the one getting upset about her seeing our true nature, choking her to death in your panic. I’m proud of who we are, I’ve acknowledged it, accepted it. When will you?”_

  
Ed tried to smooth out wrinkles of the already worn Penguin costume.  
“I have a show to run.”  
He got out of the small room, heading towards the main area and wrestling ring, already hearing the crowd cheering for him to come on stage.

  
Riddler flashed by in a reflection from a loose window standing against a wall.  
_“You mean your theatrical roleplay cloaking your real feelings?”_

Ed ignored him.

_  
“You’re like a small child, showing affection by pulling their hair.”_

  
The room went dark, Ed’s cue to get on stage while everyone was still blinded by the sudden darkness. Yet knowing what’s coming, they chanted his name.  
He took position, arms out, face pointing upwards right into a currently dark spotlight, in its’ reflection he could make out a vague Riddler.  
  
_“It’s going to catch up to you, you can’t hide from the truth forever.”_

  
Lights went on, crowd cheering loudly, continuing the chant even louder.  
“Laaaaadies and Gentlemen and everything in between. Welcome.”  
He put on his dazzling smile.  
As soon as the spotlight revealed Ed in his mocking attire the cheers switched to loud hooting.

  
_“Can’t you see? You’re not so unlike me after all.”_  
Riddler’s voice echoed in his mind, distracting him from the act. But Ed pushed him away and kept going.

  
Dressed in a worn down tailcoat, naturally in a shabby shade of green, a pair of modified protective glasses with an added penguin like beak to it, he swung a broken umbrella over his shoulder.  
“I’m sooo happy to be here! Aren’t you happy to see me?”  
The audience was in mutual agreement screaming no at the top of their lungs, playing along with the act.

  
His reflection coming from an audience member’s glasses stared back at him.  
_“Your affection towards Lee is pathetic.”_

  
“You love me, I know you loved me!”  
Beaming he bowed in front of the crowd, playing the role as the self-righteous villain everyone believed Oswald to be. Or was he channelling his own emotions like Riddler was saying…

  
_“No one really saw me, US as Oswald did.”_  
Adding to his own simultaneous monologue, Riddler filled in his internal reasoning.

  
“You don’t love me? You DON’T LOVE ME?”  
Ed stomped the umbrella hard into the platform while his thought process continued, his mind in a million of places along with remembering the act, ignoring Riddler’s words and his own dwelling.  
Was it, in fact, an exaggerated play of what he wanted to hear from Penguin, was it more personal than entertainment for an audience?

  
_“Thompkins is trying to change you, make you into some personal herd dog of hers. Doing anything for praise and pets. It’s sickening.”_  
Riddler continued and by now Ed’s broken mind was spinning trying to keep up with the internal turmoil.

  
Nygma attempted to keep his calm and finish, he had done the show dozens of time, he knew the script like the back of his mind, he could do this.  
“You ASK for it.  
I’m going to send my lackies after you.  
My hoods and the GCPD!”  
Children climbed onto the makeshift stage, dressed in oversized suits and police uniforms, circling him like his own personal tiny guards.

_  
“Oswald never did that, he saw our true potential and he made us whole.”_

  
“You better do what they want, or they will come after you, and terrorize your families!”  
Eyeing the audience with a laughable expression he built up for the next part, that some regulars already know very well.

_  
“Tell me. Did we ever struggle with this dance of personalities, when we were with Oswald?”_

  
The hooting changed to repeatedly cheering for Grundy, Ed put on an overdramatic scared face, moving around as he was truly surrounded by threat, terrified of what was coming.  
The audience whistled and Grundy climbed up on into the ring, grabbing Ed by the neck.  
“Oh no you let me go, you monster!” Ed exclaims.  
  
Keeping his loose fake grip the big pale man lowered Ed to the ground who pretended to be choking to death. A wishful thinking of what he could personally do to Oswald…

  
_“She’s just another part of this facade you have built around you. Another, empty, smart girl for your attempts to hide behind the truth.”_  
Riddler was getting aggravated of Ed being able to successfully shut him out, time to step it up.  
  
Lights went out, and Nygma did a swift movement in the cloak of darkness to remove the old tailcoat and replace it with a sparkling green blazer and equal dazzling bowler hat to go with it. He had just enough time to put it on before the lights came back on.

  
Riddler prepared for his own big finish, the inevitable truth that Ed couldn’t stand to hear.  
_“That you like Oswald back.”_  
There was no way he could successfully ignore that pointer  
  
  
Fury built up within Ed, Riddler’s plan going just as he wanted it to. It threw him off guard, that his other half would go as low as to throw absurd facts of fiction like that. Lost in his own madness he forgot he was surrounded by eyes following his every move and words.  
“ENOUGH!” Ed screamed from the bottom of his lungs, crowd chattering in confusion.  
“Of this nonsense, we will not be pushed down. We, the NARROWS, stand tall. We won’t let someone like The Penguin, take over.”  
Ed gestured to the crowd, improvising his slip up into a part of the show. No one thought twice and the cheers were quickly back on.

Riddler shook his head in disapproval.  
_“He’s the only one who sees, who understands. The only one who will ever truly care about you.”_

  
“And now, for the main event.  
Grrrrrrruuuuuundy!”  
Ed cheered on as he snuck under the ropes tied around the ring, his part of the show done.

  
Finally out of earshot he addressed the everlasting nagging that called himself The Riddler.  
“You’re pathetic.”  
  
  
_“Maybe you should take a look in the mirror.”_ Riddler winked.

  
  
***

 

Ed stood on a higher platform, watching the fights taking place in the arena after his warm up. Lee came up to slightly lean on the rail beside him. A moment of silence passed between them, Ed was the one to break it first.  
“When are you intending to keep your promise? To fix me? I can’t… Think.”  
He clenched his teeth and sprawled his fingers.  
“I can’t… Make riddles. All I can do is this stupid act.”  
  
  
“Give it time Ed, we have work to do here in the Narrows.”

  
“The Narrows! That’s all you ever speak of! I have done nothing other than help you, these people who owe us nothing. And for what? Their gratitude? They’re only here because you give them money.”

  
“They need our help Ed, who am I to deny that?”

  
“What… About… ME?!”  
He slammed his hand into the railing, giving Lee a look of pleading desperation.

  
“There’s nothing wrong with you.”  
Lee calmly asserted as it was nothing, like it had been something he should have known all along.

  
“..What?”  
Mouth wide open Ed couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he had worked so hard for her trust and goodwill.  
She withheld this all along?

  
“The tests I did, they showed nothing. You’re fine. It’s all in your head.”  
She walked off with an apathetic expression. Leaving him alone on the platform.

  
“That… Can’t be?”  
A slightly transparent human shape closed in behind, fixing his hat. Riddler took Lee’s place beside him, wearing a curled smile. The more Ed started doubting, seeing the truth, the clearer and stronger Riddler grew.

 

***  
  


Early next morning Ed sat on an old wire spool in an old storage room at the back of the building, staring at his pillbox in hand. He tried to come to terms with what Lee had told him meant. Having been up all night, going back and forth to make sense of it without much luck.

_  
“It won’t work, you know. It only worked before because you believed you could get rid of me, because I chose to.”_

  
Ignoring Riddler who towered above him, a fully manifested hallucination now, Ed emptied what was left of the pills down his throat. He admittedly was running low as of late Riddler had been making his appearance more often. Nibbling on the pills as usual, instead of swallowing, he went through what happened since he was unfrozen.  
  
He certainly wasn’t quite right when he woke up, and that girl didn’t exactly make it better… It was like she was aspiring to reflect his past lovers, a vague and failed try. It just made him upset, already panicking about his lack of brain power, he really couldn’t help himself…

  
_“See, that was you, not me.”_  
Riddler pointed out.

  
Once again Ed ignored him.  
The first thought after waking up had been of Oswald… His last words before freezing him, how he… Seemed to give him a chance not to kill him, hoping to hear words of reciprocated feelings, before admitting defeat and heartbreak once again. Deciding to go forth with the freezing after all.  
No, that cannot be. That must be Riddler infecting his thoughts.  
Oswald wanted him gone, revenge for killing him, but he didn’t have the guts to kill him off. The Penguin had become weak. And Ed had thought to take advantage of that, making a plan to take him down once for all and end this never-ending conflict.  
...In the end, it was Oswald who once again showed him mercy, or was it pity? Deciding not to freeze him again, but to let him live with his failed, dumb self.  
  
Left humiliated and lost, his purpose and confidence crushed. He had aimlessly strolled the streets until he ran into Grundy, and found his way to Cherry’s.

Lee had taken him in like a stray dog, helped him back on his feet, not asking nosy questions about how he treated Grundy… She promised to help him but… If he’s fine, why did she keep it from him, why did she lie?

_  
“To keep you around, working for her silly.”_

  
“She wouldn’t do that, she cares about me. Just like I care about her.”

_  
“Don’t start, the only reason you’re playing this made up affection with her, that you go even so far as calling love. Is that you desperately needed something, someone to focus on, to keep denying.”_

  
“You’re wrong, I do love her!”

_  
“Oh please, after your failed attempt to go after Oswald after we were unfrozen, you were lost. You’re right about the stray part, she took you in and treated you like a pet she could teach tricks for her own personal use. She’s not so nice as you imagine her to be.”_

  
“Would you please just shut up!”  
Ed refused to admit it but Riddler was right, Lee treated him just like everyone had before he met Oswald, before he had embraced his criminal side as the Riddler. But that wasn’t who he was anymore, he was wrong, he had to be.

_  
“I guess the only way to show you I’m right is for me to get rid of her. To make you look at her dead corpse, feeling nothing but relief and freedom.”_

  
“NO!”

  
_“We both know you’re losing control, soon you won’t know where I begin and you end.”_  
He smirked, leaning against the wall.  
_“I’ll be in control and you…? Won’t even realize you’re gone.”_

  
Riddler was right, his grip was slipping and Riddler was becoming much more powerful, he was much more certain in who he was and what he wanted. Sooner or later he was going to take over, and then there was nothing he could do to stop him from killing Lee…  
There was only one solution to this, to protect her. Something he had hoped he would never have to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you [verovex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/verovex) for helping me edit this chapter, making it less of a mess!
> 
> Check out the [promo gifs](https://insanekingy.tumblr.com/post/180449893410/ed-tried-to-smooth-out-wrinkles-of-the-already) made my lovely [SpaceInvader](https://spacelnvader.tumblr.com/)!


	4. Set me free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oswald wonder if the letter he had sent to the other part of Ed would be understood... Or if he would be waiting for nothing.

Oswald couldn’t deny it, he was worried. What if he had misunderstood the note? What if it was just Ed toying with him? However… His brain wasn’t like it used to be, unable to pull off even the simplest riddle. But then how would he be able to suddenly craft this one and hide it in plain sight?  
No, it had to be _him_ , there was no other explanation.

 

In all honesty, Oswald liked both of Ed’s sides, but as of late Ed hadn’t exactly been himself. It was pitiful really, how he had come after him in an attempt to kill him in revenge of Oswald freezing him, finishing the job he failed last time.  
Barely even a vague reflection of his old self, left Oswald unable to do anything else than to spare him, leaving him to the misery of realizing how pathetic he had become. So far from the force of nature they had been together…

He must remember though, what made him freeze Ed in the first place. What he did to him, how he made him weaker than he had ever been. Blinded by love, he lost his empire.  
He spit on the ground realizing he had let Sofia do the same to an extent, he let her in, he allowed someone to really see him. And it got him back to here.

 

***

 

Edward sighed as he pushed the iconic metal gates of Arkham Asylum open. This was the only way, it had to work.

A guard greeted him in the lobby, if you could call it that, just a long empty corridor with a hole in the wall, allegedly supposed to be the secretary’s office.  
“What may I do to help you? Here to see anyone?  
Can’t say I can see why anyone would want to visit any of… These lunatics.”

Ed mumbled to himself, “How professional…”

“What was that?” The guard asked.

“Nothing. I’m here to admit myself.”  
He spoke coldly, trying to hold his stance and not regret this. He had to do it.

“Are you… Sure?”  
The guard had a hard time understanding if this was a prank or not.

“Yes I’m sure, can we please hurry this up?”  
He could feel Riddler creeping closer, trying to stop him.

“Yes of course. Your name please?”  
He began going through his papers for the correct form, self admittance not being the most commonly used.

“Edward. Nygma.”

The guard froze at the legal name of the somewhat famous Riddler.  
“Oh… Come with me Mr. Nygma.”  
Leaving the small room he led Ed down the hall, entering an empty office. He invited him to sit and left a application in front of him.  
“Please fill this in while I… Prepare. I admit, we don’t get a lot of volunteers.”  
Looking guarded he almost ran off, probably to spread the gossip of the Riddler admitting himself.

 

***

 

All of a sudden there was a turmoil, like half of Arkham was chattering, whispering, including the guards. What was going on? What in the world could get everyone so worked up? This normally only happened when a high profile criminal was being admitt-... A light went on, Ed. He was really coming, he had understood!

Relief showered over Oswald, allowing himself to feel hopeful if only for a minute. Maybe, just maybe, they could go back to how things had been… If.. He was back.

Feeling the need to confirm, see for himself and carry out his part of the deal, Oswald needed to get out and find him. So when a guard exited the lounge, planning to leave the inmates to themselves and go on break, most likely to discuss what’s going on with the other guards… With the pay they probably got he couldn’t blame them for not doing their job. And it made it easier to simply put his foot in the way so the door wouldn’t close, the guard didn’t even glance back.  
When he was out of earshot Oswald snuck out, making his way to the part of the asylum that held the sad excuse of what was supposed to be offices.

 

***

 

 _“Who can’t see what’s happening right in front of him?”_  
Riddler mocked as a full body hallucination, spreading out comfortably in the vacant office chair opposite Ed.

Ed absentmindedly made a hand gesture shooing him away, trying to focus on the form in front of him.  
“Two needles, half of Mississippi, why do I care?”

 

 _“Ohh but you do care. Don’t you? It aggravates you to not understand, to see what I’m plotting. That you’re no longer as smart as me.”_  


“What are you talking about?”

 

“I knew you’d come!”  
A familiar voice said from behind.

 

Freezing with his pen still against the paper, Ed lifted his head to see who it was, despite having already realized his horrible mistake, that Riddler had played him all along.  
“Oswald? What?  
What have you done?!” He looked back to face Riddler who replied with another smile.

“I knew you’d understand my letter!”  
Oswald took another step forward, his voice shaky and emotion spilling over with his smile.

Riddler held up the letter sent by Penguin, certain words circled in red. Spelling out;  
**Please bring Ed to Arkham so I can set you free.**

 _“Who can’t see what’s right in front of him?_  
_Ed. Nygma!”_  
He laughed and watched as Penguin approached, wearing a smile of relief.

Panic spread across Ed’s face and he desperately looked around him for any means of protection. Riddler and Oswald plotting against him only meant one thing, disaster with him as collateral.  
“No, I came here to save Lee…”  
He managed to get a hold of a pen but he wasn’t fast enough and Penguin grabbed Ed’s collar, pushing him back against the table.

“He read my letter…”  
As if he wasn’t even listening, Oswald continued with an almost dreamy voice, clearly pleasantly surprised. He had doubts, but those were all erased now, Ed may have given up on him but not… Him.

“You... You’re wrong.  
I am ED. Edward Nygma, that’s IT!  
Lee believes in me. She sees me for who I am.”  
He struggled to get loose but he could feel it already, his power over his vessel of a body was draining out of him for each second that passed. With every word of acknowledgment from the man who had refused to see him, call him by his rightful name.

“Lee may have made Ed strong, but I see the other you.”  
Oswald gripped him tighter as he looked into his eyes like he was seeing through his very soul, directly meeting the gaze of…  
“The one’s who’s name I wouldn’t speak… But because he has earned it… And because I need him, I’m saying it now.”  
With that, Oswald just let go of Ed and dropped his gaze for a split second.

“No… No!”  
Ed protested.

“I need you…”  
Oswald looked back up, eyes piercing through Ed.  
“Riddler.”

Ed felt himself being jerked away from the control of his own body, falling into a dark pit of his own mind, not finding anything to grab onto.  
Meanwhile Riddler’s smile grew larger by the second as he took over. He grabbed hold of Oswald’s face, the sudden touch startling him.  
A manic laughter escaped him with the relief of his freedom at last. Oswald nervously joining in first, then turning to a genuine shared moment of success for both of them.

 

Oswald’s heart was racing, when it was finally out of adrenaline from the chance something would have gone wrong, or the fact that he was standing so close to Ed… No, this wasn’t Ed, clearly, but at the same time it was.  
It was oddly intimitate, at one second Ed had been ready to kill him once again, shaking with what he could only guess was fear. Frightened of losing control.  
He watched the man who had taken his place, Riddler stepped back to grab his hat from the table, straightening out his suit. The smug smile still on his lips, giving Oswald a commending look.

“Shall we get to work?”  
Riddler asked him.

Oswald nodded agitatedly, pleased but in need of getting the most important matters sorted before any other schemes could be carried out.  
“You need to find Martin first.”

“Who?”

“A very important boy, he knows secrets I cannot trust with anyone else. I sent him away for safety reasons, but I was played by Sofia and Zsasz, so his current whereabouts are unknown.  
I cannot escape until his safety is guaranteed, she’s holding him as leverage.”  
Not yet ready to share what Martin had become to Penguin, he told only the necessary.

“Boy, Zsasz, understood.”  
Riddler merely nodded, clearly adding it as a mental note, not in the need of physical reminders. His mind was on point unlike how Ed’s fragile state had operated.

“Be kind to him, he cannot talk. Uses this… Pad to communicate.”

“Anything else?”

“Just… Get me out of here. Normally I have no problems with a well planned breakout, but it has been proven.. Difficult. With Jerome running this place like it’s his own living room.”

“I shall see to working something out that will work in our favor. I will contact you about the details shortly.”

 

Ed bid adieu from his reunited partner in crime and snuck out, not planning to forcibly be submitted, just as a bunch of guards hurried from the other entrance, looking for the lost Penguin.  
The guards pulled Oswald away, feet dragging along the floor as he smiled with true hope.  
“I’ll be waiting! I’ll be waiting for you!”  
He screamed, hoping Riddler could still hear him.  
A smirk of white teeth glowed in the darkness as Riddler quietly made his way back through the familiar hallways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, I'm sorry about that. But the next one will be kinda long so maybe that will make up for it. When I eventually post it.
> 
> Please comment, kudos and bookmark as usual!
> 
> I gotta admit, it's weird posting this fic as I wrote it months before publishing the chapters, but I haven't got an editor for it until lately so. Hope you enjoy it anyway, even if my writing style have changed a bit since.


	5. Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riddler sets his big escape plan to the works, question if the former sworn enemies can put the past behind them and work together for what needs to be done in order to take the city back?

Ed, or more exactly, Edward’s body, now in full control by Riddler as a result of his and Oswald’s reunion, was driving a smaller discreet car he had stolen, headed towards Arkham Asylum. Some preparations needed to be done before the big show tomorrow. The asylum being located a bit on the side of the city gave him some time to think before he got there.  
  
  
Suspecting the original personality was hidden deep within, Riddler hoped that he wasn’t listening, but he also didn’t particularly care. For being the other part of a two sided genius, he sure could be stupid sometimes. Yes, a complete switch was possible without the other personality being aware of the actions during the blackout, it had happened before, Riddler was quite skilled at taking over control. For one reason in particular, that Ed genuinely believed he was weaker, less worthy.  
  
Some actions were better situated for his more dramatic and bold side, which wasn’t too far off. True, Riddler liked to brag about his superior intelligence and ideas, but in the end they shared the same brain capacity, it was just a matter of how they used it. The only thing he really had to his advantage, was confidence. Believe you can do something and you’re carrying a much bigger chance of accomplishing it.

   
His line of thought was interrupted as he pulled over a few blocks from the asylum, planning to go the last bit on foot in order to draw less attention to himself.  
  
Carrying a duffel bag and dressed head to toe in black, a big scarf, and naturally his trademark hat. Riddler snuck his way to the high fence surrounding Arkham Asylum, taking out wire cutters to make a hole in a less obvious spot.  
Not being as heavily guarded on the outside when the inside had security enough, no one really gave much thought to any lunatic being able to break out easily. Even less someone wanting to _break in._  
  
He threw the bag in first and crawled through, putting the fence slightly back together to avoid any easily avoidable attention.

   
_Alright_ , he thought to himself. Now all he had to do was to locate the hospital wing, if he remembered correctly from his time at the asylum it should be…He inspected the building before him. -There! To, his very left, third floor. The long row of big windows, easy to spot, easy to break.  
  
Now if Oswald would be able to understand and follow his directions the next day he would be there waiting at 11.00 tomorrow morning.  
He just needed to make sure there was a clear path out, cloaked by the chaos he was expecting to be executed by Mr. Valeska.  
Whenever he figured out the leak was intentional or not, Ed was pretty sure it was in Jerome’s best interest to take the chance to break out himself regardless.

Looking around him to make sure he wasn’t seen, Riddler hurried over to the courtyard and put his back against the brickwall of the asylum. Glancing up to the windows above he realized just how high it was, he needed a ladder, or something.  
That was the kind of reasoning any other normal person would think of. Riddler however, felt the need to carry out everything as flashy as possible, even if no one was there to see him shine.  
Apart from Ed internally facepalming. _Let him_ , Riddler thought. He wasn’t even half the man Riddler was, or perhaps technically he was…

   
Rummaging the duffel bag he found what he was looking for, oh the delight over the fact that he would get a chance to use this beauty. It had been a fun trip going to the department of experimental technology at Wayne Enterprises looking for parts for Oswald’s gift. He had not been able to help himself from grabbing this wonderful grappling hook, he snickered at his own pun.  
A little bit of spray paint and a few question marks later, it matched his attire perfectly.  
Pleased with his find, he pointed the gun shaped tool towards the window bars, the hook shot out curling around the bars. _Perfect._  
  
Looking around to make sure no one heard or saw him, he then proceeded to hide the wire detached from the tool for him to grab and hook to his van the next day.

 

It wasn’t long now, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot would be free and they would once again be the most powerful duo in Gotham city. Perhaps even more so…  
  
Unless Ed would attempt to ruin it as usual.

 

***

 

Penguin found himself in one of his everlasting dwellings, his confidence had really hit rock bottom this time. He thought the time after Galavan had his mother killed was the worst he would ever feel, or after his father was poisoned. At least both those times he was driven by the rage and need for revenge. Ed had been there to pick up the pieces and glue them back together.  
  
This time… He was just so tired. He should be excited, Riddler was going to get him out of here very soon and then he would be free to personally slit Sofia’s throat. ...Yet it was odd how little comfort that knowledge offered. It still felt like something was… Missing.

   
He took a deep but quivering breath, closing his eyes then dragging his hands down his face.  
Once again he had allowed himself to hope.. Despite the betrayal… Ed just meant too much to him. The things they had been through, the bond they shared. With the exception of his new found affection for Martin, Ed was the only one Oswald could truly admit truly having cared for, still did.

Oswald moved his hand to place a gentle touch on his own lips, trying to ignore the hollow yet yearning feeling in his chest that followed, the unspoken wishes which lingered deep down. Simmering, building, waiting for the moment they would be too much to contain, being allowed to at last pour over the edge Oswald kept so heavily guarded.  
  
  
Feeling a motion in the corner of his eyes, he glanced around his cell, noticing a shape approaching his door.  
  
  
“Phone call for you Penguin.”, the guard pointed out, turning the key and entering the room to cuff Oswald. Out of safety precautions, they claimed.  
  
  
He cringed when the guard tightened the cuffs more than necessary, digging into his wrists. The guard chuckled in response, uncaring, and pushed him roughly through the door, making Oswald fall to his knees. When his bad leg hit the hard concrete he yelped out in pain but the guard merely dragged him up, almost jerking his arm out of place.

   
They made their way through the dirty corridors, Oswald still unsteady on his feet after the fall and lack of cane. He had requested some simple measure to support himself, but it naturally was denied with a comment he would’ve just beat someone to death with it when they weren’t looking. To be fair, they weren’t wrong, but his basic rights should still be covered.

Along the way they crossed paths with a few other inmates, one which suddenly launched themselves against Oswald, making him flinch back. Only for the inmate to be pulled back in the last minute and tazed by their accompanying guard.  
  
If you weren’t insane before entering Arkham, staying here long enough would make you so.

   
This was Oswald’s second run at the asylum, and this time he was certainly not guilty. ...Not of this particular murder at least. To assume he had killed Martin of all people, was absolutely absurd. Was it so hard to believe he had actually taken a liking to someone, and was willing to go to extreme lengths in order to protect them?  
  
He thought of his past and how no one had really seen any of his vulnerable sides, except Ed.  
  
To everyone else he was this heartless monster who would slit someone’s throat in a sudden burst of rage, simply for saying something he didn’t approve of. No one knew the turmoil that was his heart. That his outbursts had to do with his bottled up emotions, burning through his skin so that he eventually just snapped, often in the form of rage or hatred.  
  
Perhaps there had been one other… He did not even dare to think about it but the thought was already in motion, spinning in his head with the realization that Martin too had brought out a side in him he wasn’t even sure he possessed. The heartfelt simple feeling of needing to educate and protect, show the world at it’s best but be honest about it’s very true ruthless side as well. The kind smile of his mother would offer the only true wisdom she knew, the cunning manners of a mother, a parent. It hurt to know that it’s something Oswald wanted, deep down. Something he had not allowed himself to consider with the state of his much too dangerous life, and even more with the lack of a life partner.  
  
After Ed shot him, after he turned down his chance of remission which gave Oswald no other choice than to lock him into that block of ice to make sure he was never hurt again. His heart as frozen as the man he had loved.  
Yet he had allowed his heart to feel once more, his soul to take off with the hope of compassion.  
  
That it had taken him so long to figure it out as when it was already too late. Even if Ed could indeed fulfill Oswald’s request of saving Martin, surely the wishful thinking of a family life was long lost. Wasn’t it?  
  
  
The guard kicked him in his repeatedly pained leg and he flinched, almost falling again. Snapping back to reality, the guard nodded towards the phone laying with the receiver facing upwards.  
  
Cautiously, Oswald picked up the phone.  
  
  
“Oswald?” Edward asked on the other end.  
  
  
“Finally, I was starting to get worri-”

   
Not giving Oswald a chance to finish, Ed interrupted. “Put the guard on,” he demanded.

  
“I… Are you telling me you called to have the guard drag me all the way here just to make him answer instead?”

   
“Yes, now put him on. Hurry up.”

   
Reluctantly Cobblepot handed the receiver over with a sour expression, guard mouthing _for me?_ like a moron.

   
Only a few seconds passed before he hung up again and faced Oswald once again.

  
“Well? What did he say?”

   
“I could lend you a hand, but you won’t find me helpful. My name may sound tasty, but the flavour is dreadful,” the guard repeated what he had probably just heard Ed tell him.

   
At first thought Oswald was ready to internally smack Ed for telling a riddle of all things. Then he lit up as he recognized it, he had heard it before, he recalled it as quite funny too. Somehow.  
  
“Is it.. Knuckle sandwich?!”

   
The guard paused for a minute as if to think about the instructions he’d been given, probably to make a point.  
  
“Yeah.”

   
Oswald only had a second to think about what was so funny about this riddle, remembering it’s only if you’re the one telling it.  
  
In the next moment he was punched unconscious.

 

***

 

Jerome glanced at his wristband watch, 10.57, only a matter of minutes now.  
He had been happily surprised to hear the guards gossiping about the Riddler planning to break someone out of Arkham, though the exact time, 11.00 being leaked seemed suspicious. Jerome was smart, it would be an oversight to see it as anything other than a deliberate move, to make people believe they had come across some secret information, when is was in fact all planned. Despite Arkham being as worthless as it was, breaking out could be surprisingly difficult, at least on your own.  
  
Jerome had planned a breakout on his own later, this might have been somewhat ahead of his schedule but he didn’t mind. What’s another week of relaxing before his big plan? He had more pride than to care if someone thought they had played him. That in fact he played a main role in the plan.

   
He yawned as he heard screaming further down the hall. Smirking he just laid back and waited.  
  
In a couple of minutes, keys turned in the lock to his cell and a guard willingly opened it, letting in Jervis Tetch and Jonathan Crane.  
  
  
“Ah gentlemen, right on time. I presume everything is going according to plan?”  
  
Valeska jumped onto his feet and followed them out into the hallway.  
  
  
“Will is a delicate sin, as the guards follow my every whim.”  
Jervis joyfully commented.

 

“Penguin?”  
Jerome added as they walked among obedient guards standing against the walls like good soldiers, while loose inmates beat them to their heart’s desire without the guards even flinching.

   
“Cobblepot had an incident and is currently located in the infirmary at the hospital wing.” Jonathan’s speech was disoriented through his sack of a mask he wore in lack of a better costume.  
  
  
Valeska grinned and did a small jumping dance, clapping his hands together like a child. “Excellent.”

 

***

  
Oswald later woke up in the hospital wing, he looked out the bright windows, an enigmatic architectural detail for Arkham. Around most of the asylum there was endless concrete and darkness, or fluorescents making you lose your mind from the lack of real daylight.  
  
From the outside it appeared as if there were windows all over, a sneaky trick in a shabby attempt to make this place of horror look even slightly humane. In reality all those windows were either closed storage rooms or offices. Apart from the infirmary, apparently.  
  
  
Still daytime, now all he had to do was-...  
  
Gunshots could be heard in the distance, followed by collective panic and screaming. Oswald smiled, he was coming.

  
***

 

At 11.05 the asylum was in chaos, the few guards located outside had run inside to help when hell broke loose, Riddler suspected that hell to be Jerome and his gang doing exactly what he had expected.  
  
He hit the gas of his van and the loud metallic sound of the bars of the infirmary window coming loose was entirely muted in the turmoil going on around the area.  
  
When Riddler emerged from his van, things were being thrown out of windows. Perfect, this way his next move would appear less obvious given all the windows which had been broken from the inside.  
  
  
Oswald had to duck as a rectangular wrapped parcel flew into the room, crashing through the window along its’ way.  
  
Puzzled he looked outside to find Ed giving him a thumbs up. Right...  
  
Focusing back on the parcel, he tore it open instantly, not wanting to waste any more time locked up than necessary. Revealing… An umbrella. He imagined Ed couldn't see him rolling his eyes from down there but he did it anyway.  
  
Narrowing his eyes while looking back out the crashed window, Oswald could just make out Nygma miming, instructing him to open the umbrella, fine… He followed the directions, sliding up the tiny lever on the very base of the shaft. He stumbled back a couple of steps when the umbrella opened. Puzzled to see what looked like four small propellers neatly placed under the durable fabric.  
What’s next? Oswald watched Ed mimic jumping out, holding the umbrella. No no, he must have understood that one incorrectly, he couldn’t jump out the window only holding a umbrella, strange mechanism to it or not, he wasn’t a comic book character.  
However Ed seemed rather persistent and time was running out, their cover would soon be blown.  
  
Oswald inspected the item further, it was equipped with two buttons, an arrow for pointing down and one pointing up.  
  
Without knowing what else to do he held the umbrella outside the window and pressed the upwards one.  
  
Before he knew it he was holding on for dear life as the umbrella started spinning in rapid speed, propellers pushing air up, making the lightweight man against all odds take flight  
  
Ed was going to get pay back for this for sure.  
  
When at a safe distance from the window Oswald pressed the arrow pointing downwards which led him to a slow descent towards the sweet steady ground.  
  
  
Riddler waited for him, helping to steady him as he carefully took the umbrella from him and neatly folded it back together, cloaking the, according to Oswald, terrifying death device it was.  
  
  
“Another one of your bright ideas? Does everything have to be so dramatic?”  
  
Oswald snorted, starting to move across the courtyard.  
  
  
Riddler only grinned as per usual, something devious in his eyes, like he was plotting something. Great.

  
  
They hurried towards the van, Riddler shooting a few warning shots to signal people to keep their distance, and for the theatrical sake of it. Surely he couldn’t stage a breakout without making it into a bit of a show, could he? That would be a disgrace to his name.  
  
Trying to keep up the best he could Oswald limped after him, getting into the passenger seat of the van Riddler had parked just outside the gates, convenience in mind for Oswald’s struggles to get by, knowing he wouldn’t have his cane or anything for support.  
  
The old van screeched as they sped off, guards attempted to run after the vehicle but soon accepted their defeat and headed back, probably to put their attention on the other escapees.

  
  
Finally at safety, at least for now, Oswald breathed out and tilted his head back, trying to collect himself. Didn’t matter how many times he did it, the adrenaline from fearing for your own life would always feel the same.  
  
  
“Never gets old does it?”  
  
When Riddler didn’t receive more than a confused look, he elaborated, wearing his usual white grin.  
  
“The thrill, the danger, not knowing if you will get caught, if you will come out dead or alive at the end of it.”  
  
After all, the personality was born from it, an attempt for Edward’s mind to process his insecurities and past trauma, he grew a liking to danger and the risks that came with it. After all, the most exciting part of it all was the chance of getting caught. The beauty of getting away with it.  
  
  
“In all honesty Ed.”  
  
He paused, pointedly using his name to indicate how  calling him Riddler was a one time thing, despite being well aware which personality he was currently dealing with.  
  
“I long for some peace and quiet. No one appreciates how hard it is to be a crime lord.”  
  
  
“Oh I agree.”  
  
  
“Do you now? Tell me. **Ed** , how hard is it to be running around making a scene and telling riddles?”  
  
Wearing a unamused expression Oswald emphasized the other man’s name in a mockery. He was grateful for being free and he would be lying if he said he didn’t want to stick around Ed, but this was a simple case of too good to be true. The Penguin had not forgotten the feud between them, and vividly recollected the feeling of being shot and drowning.  
  
He pushed aside his pondering from his last few weeks, it could be blamed on the awful environment. Arkham did not carry kind memories after what Strange had done to him.  
Oswald came to the simple conclusion it was the isolation and hopelessness of being powerless that lowered him to having hope of that kind, allowing him to think and even feeling things he had promised to keep hidden away.  
  
However, the sentiments had remained locked away until Ed escaped his frozen prison. The moment his heart started beating again, Oswald’s heart thawed as well.  
  
  
During the recently escaped kingpin’s inner self reflecting, he had failed to notice his partner in crime had remained silent, despite his insulting comment.  
  
The consistent sound of the old engine thrumming and the painful stabs in Cobblepot’s hip were proof of very little suspension left in the old van as it rolled over uneven ground slowly, jostling him back to reality. Looking over at Ed, he appeared sullen and Oswald could swear his eyes looked glossy.  
Hold on, he was hurt? Wasn’t this the side of Ed that had confidence through the roof, surely a silly snub wouldn’t really get to him? Or was this his sensitive part?  
  
Riddler -or Ed, he didn’t really know anymore -at least not in this very moment, remained silent. He was ashamed really, how a futile comment like this could throw him off so.  
He had been so caught up in the moment he had forgotten where they really stood, their past far from forgotten and settled.  
  
  
The fact remained that Oswald had yet again overseen the importance to who he had become, the journey of his transformation of his true self.  
  
The real problem to his upset state was really that he was being unjustified by the very man he wanted to prove himself meritorious.

  
  
  
Both their thoughts were driven to a halt as Ed pulled the van onto the sidewalk to park, having reached their intended destination.  
  
Oswald looked around while struggling to get out of the all too high vehicle, the Narrows? What was their purpose of being here? He knew Ed had been basing his operations together with Lee lately, but surely he wouldn’t take them to...  
  
  
As they exited the car Ed went to the back to receive something out of the trunk.

“Sorry, this was all I could get my hands on with the limited time.”

Riddler held out a piece of clothing to Oswald.

  
  
Studying the now slightly ragged fabric in black and purple, it didn’t take long for him to recognize it. Fond memories filled him sparking a smile.  
“This is the coat I wore when I killed Galavan. -The first time.” He added.

“Where did you get a hold of this? I thought it was long gone.”

“I have my ways. I wouldn’t be much of an enigma if I would spill all my secrets would I?” Riddler smirked, studying how that comment somehow made Oswald flush.

  
  
Oswald wrapped the coat tightly around himself, it was getting chilly in Gotham this time of year, and for Ed to have even thought of bringing him something warm to wear over his old Arkham uniform, yet alone such a memorable piece of clothing...

It was like the moment in the car had never even happened, Oswald wondered for a moment if he had imagined the whole thing.  
  
  
With all that had been going on he was suddenly hit by a gruesome realization of having forgotten something vastly important.

“Martin?”  
  
  
“Snug as a bug in a rug!” Edward playfully replied.  
  
  
“He’s safe then?”  
  
  
“Yes, do you wanna hear how I did it?”  
  
  
Always looking for a moment to brag, let his excellence shine. Oswald simply didn’t answer this time, his worry had been eased, Martin was alright. He wasn’t sure if he would ever see him again.. Maybe after Sofia have been.. Taken care of.  
  
  
Edward kept walking forward, barely giving Oswald time to keep up with the taller man’s long legs. He handed over his hat and kept talking to refrain from a similar moment of silence to happen again.

“As it turns out, Victor, HUGE fan of disco. So I dress up as this old Polish woman and-”  
  
  
“Perhaps another time Ed.”

Not feeling up to the task of pretending and growing somewhat worried about where they were headed and what Ed was planning. Part of him still fearful he would betray him, have him killed once again. He was thankful, yet on guard.

“Right now we need to focus on taking down Sofia. I will not allow her or anyone else to make me weak ever again. Or give her another chance to hurt Martin. She will pay, this time with her life.”  
  
  
Riddler didn’t admit the words hurt, to hear Oswald imply he would never let anyone get close again. But he wouldn’t give up there, they still had something between them, all he had to do was to make Ed admit it too.  
  
  
  
They entered a building seemingly more run down than the rest of the shabby neighborhood that was The Narrows. Oswald had not grown up wealthy, in fact he had respect, not pity, for those who struggled to get by, but this place seemed to run on a completely different philosophy, and he knew he as the Penguin wasn’t very popular around the locals.  
  
Right outside an apartment door on the first floor, Riddler turned to Oswald. Startling the smaller man in a surprised response when his hands was taken into Riddler’s, holding them tenderly and close to his body. They were so close, Oswald couldn’t remember last time they had been like this, or actually he could exactly retain the moment, but this couldn’t be…

Looking up from their hands into Oswald’s stunned eyes, Riddler said something that threw Oswald off even further.  
  
  
“I would do anything for you Oswald.  
Wait here.”  
  
  
Riddler dropped his hands with a reminder of what he had told him what felt like so long ago now, when they were still mayor and chief of staff. Words that had long ago stopped to mean anything, or had they?

 

***

 

Riddler, in the clever “disguise” of Ed, which was merely an unbuttoned dress shirt and slightly ruffled hair, peeked into the door creek with a sheepish smile, getting Lee to lower the gun she had instinctively raised, not trusting anyone anymore after what Sofia had done to her.  
  
  
“Ed, you’re back. How are you doing?”, she asked with a softer and less cautious voice.  
  
  
“World’s better, honestly. Thank you.”

The dorky smile remained as he stepped in, then noticing the bandages around Lee’s hand. What would Ed do? He would, attempt to care wouldn’t he?

“Oh.. No… What happened to your hand?”

Good enough.  
  
  
Lee unsuspectedly carried on.

“Sofia Falcone, smashed it with a hammer. Threw me out on the street, with Sampson in charge of the Narrows.”

Not happy about the outcome, she began changing the bandages.

“But together, we can take that bitch down.”  
  
  
Ed sighed and began to fix himself up again, straightening his tie.

“Yeah Oswald, she can’t help.”  
  
  
That was Penguin’s cue to step in, handing Edward his hat back, which he put back on as an indication he was in fact, not Ed.  
  
  
“What’s is this? What is going on? What’s wrong with you?”

Thompkins’s frown was growing more worried by the second, not the biggest fan of Oswald, and he and Ed together did not ring well.  
  
  
“I let him out of his cage so he in turn, could help me out of mine.”  
Oswald nodded enthusiastically, happy to display their regained alliance. Prove Lee she didn’t mean anything anymore, she was the accomplice of Ed, not Riddler, after all.  
  
  
“You’re him. The Riddler.”

Merely stating the obvious, she knew enough of Ed’s past and had enough psychiatric training from her time at Arkham to know how D.I.D. worked.  
  
  
Riddler greeted her as his proper self with a small, much more devious grin.

“Hi Lee.  
You know I was really hoping you were still running the Narrows. Maybe you could help us, but, guess not.”  
  
  
“Yes so what’s your next brilliant idea?”  
Oswald was growing impatient, not in the mood to visit Ed’s ex girlfriends for a chat. He had more urgent matters.

“Sofia will have turned the Falcone mansion into a stronghold. It will be _impossible_ to get to her.”  
  
  
“Oswald, dear. You don’t think I have a backup plan?  
I’m gonna have Victor Fries put you into a block of ice, take you to Sofia like a chilly Trojan horse, pretend to hand you over.”  
  
  
The Penguin closed his eyes and made a sour expression, subconsciously putting his hand on Ed’s arm.

“Are you kidding me?”  
  
  
“It is a _fantastic_ plan.”

The hand gestures were just so typically Ed, or the Riddler, or whatever he liked to call himself at the moment.  
  
  
Oswald scoffed, screaming back into his face.

“TRY AGAIN!”  
  
  
Standing between the two men arguing like a married couple, Lee held out her hands between them to stop them from slitting each other’s throat at any second. Wouldn’t be the first time would it?

“Let me help. Look what she did to me, I will pull the trigger on that bitch myself.”

She wasn’t blind, the looks of electricity between them, the lingering touches she thinks they hardly even notice they were doing it themselves. This explained everything.  
  
  
“That’s some tough talk, but we both know it’s just talk.”

Riddler turned away, clearly not willing to accept help or anything else than his own, brilliant schemes.  
  
  
“Enough! Both of you, sounding like children fighting over which game to play at the playground.”

Oswald turned to massage his temples, already getting a headache from the tension going on in the room.

“If we want to fight Sofia, we need muscle!”  
  
  
She and Ed, fighting like children? Lee thought, maybe they should look into a mirror.

“I agree.”  
  
Lee stepped up to Nygma, as if to tell a secret but she did not whisper, like she wanted Oswald to hear.  
  
“I can tell you where to look, don’t you think he misses you?”  
  
  
Riddler cracked a smile and Oswald turned around and scooted closer, clearly sparking interest from what he at least hoped to be, a mystery associate, of Ed’s.  
  
  
“Who, is she talking about?”

Oswald’s smile was almost manic, not appreciating being kept in the dark, especially when it was someone connected to his Ed.  
  
  
“After you so kindly kicked me out... Ed.”, he corrected himself.

“He found a… Friend, with a special talent for... Staying alive. I think you might know him.”  
  
  
“It’s Butch, he’s alive and have some kind of inhuman monster strength…”

Lee filled in.  
  
  
Riddler gasped theatrically.

“You…! You ruined it!”  
  
  
“BUTCH IS ALIVE?!”

Oswald had to stop himself from having a make believe heart attack, Riddler wasn’t the only dramatic man in the room. Perhaps they took after each other more than they liked to admit.  
  
  
“Relax, he doesn’t remember anything. He thinks we’re best friends.

Look, I’ll go look for him, you wait here, lay low.”

With that Riddler hurried out of the room, leaving Oswald alone with Lee and a lot of question marks, how typical...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit it, this was my favorite chapter to write. A lot happens in it but I had the chance to fill in some very annoying gaps as well as adding that comic feeling I really do miss at times.  
> Let me know what you thought!


	6. Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love is sacrifice.

Lee and Oswald were left alone in the small room the Doc had been using as her base of operations and medical clinic.  
The lacking presence of Edward was significant, the only common ground between the two very different people gone. Revenge against Sofia should have been the priority, but somehow the topic trailed off.  
  
Thompkins watched the small man closely, a cautious observing.  
  
  
“What are you looking at? Am I that funny looking to you?”

Oswald snapped back by habit, years of bullying manifesting in form of that being the singled out reason anyone would ever pay two seconds of attention to him. Unless they were frightened for their life, of course, but that wasn’t the impression he got out of Thompkins at that moment.  
  
  
“I’m trying to figure what there is he sees in you.”  
  
  
“What?”  
  
  
“Edward. Or… More exactly his other self, the one who have admitted it at least.  
Ed still lives in this fantasy where he loves me, thinking we could become a couple.”  
  
  
“No offense Miss Thompkins, but Ed has better standards than that.”  
  
  
“Does he now?”

She glanced at Oswald.  
  
  
Oswald didn’t pick up on the look, instead he began pacing the small room. Already getting impatient and worried about Ed.  
“He has abandoned me, betrayed me once again! Or he’s in trouble.. Something clearly has gone wrong. I need to go find him.”  
  
  
“Ed is fine. He’s going to get Grundy and we will use him as a human meat shield and go take down Sofia for good. It’s going to be fine, be patient, he told us to stay put.”  
  
  
“I can’t wait any longer.”

  


***

  


Penguin did not get far from the apartment he had left Lee in search of Ed, until gunfire could be heard echoing through the streets, this was good old Gotham for sure. Good to be home he thought with a grin, which didn’t last long when he had to duck for a bullet that nearly hit his head.  
  
Two men dashed in behind the car along with him, seeking cover.  
  
  
One of them looked to the side between the gunshots, not believing his eyes when he found just the man he was looking for, right next to him. Normally in Gotham it was an entire puzzle game to find anyone. Soon the other man wondered what had gained his partner’s interest.

“Cobblepot!” he exclaimed.  
  
  
Upon hearing his name, Oswald looked up only to be greeted by the two nosy eyes of detective Bullock and Gordon, oh no.

Acting fast, used to protect himself he grabbed an empty bottle laying in the gutter, which he crashed the bottom off to use the sharp glass shards sticking out as a weapon.

“What are you doing here?!”  
  
  
“We’re looking for an certain arkham escape, hair like a bird’s nest, walks with a limb, mommy complex. Have you seen him around?”

Harvey scoffs at his own joke.  
  
  
Instantly feeling the need to redeem himself, not having the luxury of time to be arrested, he attempts to explain.

“Those trumped up charges you used to put me away, have lost their teeth. Martin is still alive!”  
  
  
“So produce him.”

Jim yelled between firing a shot over the car.  
  
  
“Nope, he is not safe until Sofia Falcone has been dealt with.. Permanently!”  
  
  
“I think you and I want the same thing Oswald. We both want Sofia to go away.”  
  
  
“You cannot be serious.”

Harvey protested, suspecting where this was headed, Jim was always too eager to trust Oswald, despite him proving their trust wrong over and over.  
  
  
“I want your bookkeeper, Mr. Penn.”

Jim stated in a calm manner.  
  
  
“What would he know about…” A moment of revelation.

“That little weasel was working for her!”

Followed by a flurry of indiscernible words of pure disbelief and anger mixed into one, pieces falling together into a horribly designed puzzle he would rather flip off the table.  
  
  
Bullock, liking the direction of events rather than the ones he had anticipated, joined in.

“Yeah he was working for her, for Don Falcone, for everyone!

You might wanna check your management style, pal."  
  
  
Oswald, clearly lost in his own imploding world, repeated to himself, in front of two detectives of all people, how he was going to kill him…  
  
  
Seeing the turmoil and panic going in in the man before him, Jim attempted to calm down the crime lord he had grown closer to than he would have ever imagined.

“Oswald? Oswald! Calm down, you show us where we can find Mr. Penn, and I’ll let you walk away.”  
  
  
Harvey snapped, he knew this would happen, it always did, every single time. It was like Jim’s real crush had always been on Oswald, he clearly had a weak spot for the little freak.  
  
  
Oswald seemed to consider his choices, with Sofia most likely knowing Martin had been picked up by now, and his escape being known, it wasn’t long until she and her goons placed around the city would find him.  
He could make it easy, let the police do the hard work of finding and capturing her and he would be left with the satisfactory moment of slitting the treacherous Sofia’s throat all by himself.   
  
Dropping the bottle as a sign of trust he continued to explain the place out of town he had overheard his former bookkeeper talk about.  
  
  
  
The bulletstorm increased and Penguin could hear Zsasz in the background yelling for him to come out, great, he had been spotted, and by Victor of all people.

He jumped into the car he had been hiding behind, hoping it was still intact enough to drive. Before he had the time to crawl to the front seat, Lee jumped in behind the wheel and took off.

Leaving two annoyed cops and two disappointed assassins to themselves.

  


***

  


What Oswald had hoped to remain silent in the car as they sped away from the detectives, was soon broken by a woman with clearly too much on her mind, and a thing for dipping her nose into other people’s business.  
  
“I don’t actually believe he loves me, you know.”  
  
  
“Excuse me?”  
  
  
“Ed. I said that he lived in a fantasy that he loved me, but I’m starting to be more certain he does know deep down what it’s really about.”  
  
  
Oswald couldn’t in the slightest understand where this was coming from and why she kept bringing it up, but he admitted his curiosity had spiked.

“Then what is?”  
  
  
“You really can’t see it can you?”  
  
  
“See WHAT, Miss Thompkins? If you believe I’m enjoying this guessing game, you’re wrong. Perhaps I can see why Ed likes you so much, you speak in riddles just as much as him.”  
  
He didn’t know where they were going, but he hoped they would arrive soon because he couldn’t _wait_ to get some peace and quiet to plot his next move and find Ed already.  
  
  
“You are, Oswald. You’re the truth he wants to hide from so badly that he would do anything to deny it.”  
  
  
“Even kill me? Because that’s what he did. He doesn’t love me. He hates me. I suppose they’re hard to tell apart sometimes, it’s an honest mistake.”

A hard truth for Oswald to admit.  
  
  
“You of all people must have noticed the difference, how he’s split between right and wrong with everyone but you. As soon as he speaks of you, it’s like every piece falls into place and he is absolutely certain of what he wants.”  
  
  
“Certain to get me off the face of the earth.”

The sarcasm was heavy in the fake smirk, not liking the forced topic at all. Who did she think she was to meddle in their relationship, or lack thereof, like this?  
He had already decided he couldn’t allow himself to hope for anything more, fairly certain he wouldn’t live through another murder attempt.  
  
But to Oswald’s dismay she just kept going.  
  
  
“I see you two together. You clearly still have feelings for him, but you’re just so blind in your own self pity, that you cannot see he is starting to accept that he loves you too.”  
  
  
He had to admit, he had not seen that coming, and from Leslie Thompkins of all people. Why did she care, anyway?  
She couldn’t be right, could she? Ed hated him, he knew that. He had said word by word that he didn’t love him, how much clearer could it be?

Yet… He got him out of Arkham, and… Something felt like it wasn’t just the Riddler personality anymore, he could see the other Ed, the kind one, smiling back at him, just like they used to…  
  
  
  
“Anyway we need a new plan to get to Sofia. We’re running out of time, no Ed, no Grundy. We should just go find Fries.”  
  
  
“Certainly, there are other ways of getting to her, than Ed’s overly comical, plain bizarre fantasy of a plan.”  
  
  
“I don’t think we have a choice anymore Oswald.”  
  
  
“First of all, you have not earned the privilege to call me that. Second, there is, NO WAY, I’m allowing myself to be frozen like some spartan diversion.  
What if my mind gets damaged like Ed’s?!”

A slash of guilt hit him like a shard of ice into his heart. That he had damaged Ed’s beautiful mind.. Just because he couldn’t let go, after everything he had done, he still couldn’t bring himself to kill him, for it to be over. The thought of living on without Ed hurt far too much, something he had not allowed himself to admit until now.

Why was all this streaming back to him now? Lee had placed the idea and now he couldn’t get it out of his mind.

He had wanted to hurt Ed for what he did, get back to him. The freezing had been the only idea he could have thought of which would allow him to have his revenge, make sure Ed could never hurt or betray him again. But also how he would _never_ be able to leave Oswald, he would always be there, at the center of his club for him to remember, who he was, what he couldn’t be, what he couldn’t allow himself.

Maybe deep down, he had it coming, he deserved what Ed had done to him. For so long he had justified his own actions with the fact that he was protecting Ed from himself. But perhaps he was, plain and simple, jealous, not willing to share the man with anyone.  
  
  
Lee shot Oswald out of his daydreams.

“I’m beginning to think you’re right, something’s up with Ed, or he would have tried to find us by now.  
Do you really have any better ideas?”

They needed to get going if they would get Sofia in time, but naturally Lee had to be stuck with the self-indulgent Oswald Cobblepot.  
  
  
Penguin seemed to give it a thought for a minute, being frozen sounded awfully alike drowning, something he would never like to do again. Considering his moniker as  Penguin, he had to admit he was starting to grow a strong distaste for water in any form.  
But perhaps, this was his redemption. Maybe, just maybe it could even out the score.  
He understood things could never be as they had been between him and Ed. That didn’t mean they had to hate each other, constantly seeking out revenge and murder, it was frankly exhausting and distracting from what they could truly accomplish together. They could make a powerful alliance if they could keep their differences apart.

“I… Anything must be better than that. I’m also not entirely certain Mr. Fries wants to be of assistance with me anymore.”  
  
  
“Worth a shot, I’ll do the talking, I can be quite persuasive.”  
  
  
“I highly doubt that, but it will be my personal amusement to see you try.”

He snickered.

  


***

  


“Jim and Harvey are busy looking for Mr. Penn and we know Sofia is hiding in the Falcone manor. Too many people are out for her head right now, she’s not so cocky on her own.”

Thompkins went through the plan again, mostly for herself than anyone else. Normally she wouldn’t risk anyone getting injuries similar to what Ed had sustained when she first met him. But these were desperate times, and it wasn’t like she was too fond of Oswald anyway. His brain could use going down a few notches.  
  
  
The room sized freezer had Oswald clutching his coat tighter around him, not doing much for warmth in conditions made to sustain Victor Fries’s permanently chilly state.

“You know this insane move will probably get me killed?”  
  
  
“If it puts Sofia in the ground, I’m okay with that.”

Lee closed her own coat, clearly the attitude wasn’t enough to keep her warm.

She turned to Freeze.

“Look, we need you to freeze Oswald and send him to Sofia in order to get to her from the inside.”  
  
  
Mr. Fries simply raised a frosty eyebrow.  
  
“Why would I help him? Last time he came to me with one of his schemes to regain the city, he promised me every resource I needed to reverse my condition. Didn’t see that happening.”  
  
  
Oswald scooted closer.

“I can guarantee, Mr. Fries that if given the chance to rectify, you will have anything you need. As soon as I get my empire up running and money flowing as usual.”  
  
  
The frozen man sighed and went to take a breath from a liquid helium tube, sending below freezing air into the room, having Lee and Cobblepot jump away from the cold.  
Victor smirked in triumph.  
  
  
For being a business man of sorts, Oswald clearly had no eye for making a deal by selling it as something the customer would personally gain from, Lee thought.

“You need money for your research. You’ll be delivering Penguin on a silver platter, they will give you anything you want.”  
  
  
Fries considered for a moment before going to sort through his equipment.

“I may have something.”

If nothing else, freezing Penguin would be a good payback alone.

“A timer, best I can do on short notice.”  
  
  
Oswald looked down at the tube shaped blinking object for a moment, in disbelief that this was actually happening.  
  
  
“Ready?”

Fries loaded his freeze gun.  
  
“Not yet, I-.”

Hands stretched out, trying to stop Freeze he ended up in a position much like Ed had been when the frozen man pointed and shot the freeze ray right at him. In short, turning Cobblepot into a Penguin shaped chilly statue.  
  
  
“Don’t care.”

  


***

  


Riddler looked down the half open manhole with a disgusted expression, was he supposed to go down there and ruin his italian leather shoes? Would be a shame to throw them away now, in a way they had become quite a pair of old friends, along with the green suit Ed had stubbornly worn for so long. Riddler had given it a proper wash after taking over, but he too wasn’t ready to exchange it. Not with what it meant, for both of them but especially Riddler. It was a memento of how he had accepted his persona and crime alter ego, Riddler himself.

It had been what he wore when he shot Oswald, when he was frozen. It represented their hardest and best times, the treacherous tension and passion between them. That sweet spark…  
  
_“Oh please, you make me sick.”_    
  
  
The reflection in the dirty water down the hole frowned appalled.  
  
“I don’t recall asking for your opinion.”

With a slight sigh Riddler began climbing down the narrow ladder down to the sewers. This was for Penguin after all, when this was over he could get a new pair of shoes and suit to represent what they had ahead of them.  
  
  
Ed was getting enraged, tired of being a involuntary bystander of Riddler’s lovesick thoughts.  
  
_“And I didn’t ask for you to make assumptions of my opinion. That suit means nothing to me.”  
  
_  
“Is that why you’ve worn it for for almost a year straight?”

A drop of water hits Riddler’s glasses, blurring his vision. He takes them off to wipe them, then glances around his whereabouts. The sewer was dark and the stench was unbearable.  
 _  
  
“I was poor! And lacking part of my mind.”_

The mismatched reflection in the water crossed his arms and pouted like a little kid knowing they were losing an argument.  
  
  
“Right. I’ll keep that in mind next time I put on the 700$ glitter jacket”  
  
  
 _“...That was for the show.”  
  
  
_ “Keep telling yourself that.”  
  
  
Pushing a slightly defeated Ed back into his mind Riddler walked deeper into the sewers. No wonder outcasts and creatures decided to live here when they made them this big. What’s the purpose of the size of these tunnels when it was only waste that was supposed to go through it?  


“Hey big man, Grundy my pal. It’s me, friend Ed!”

Riddler tried to put on a cheery face and tone to mimic his more compassionate side, the one that had gained Grundy’s trust.

 

Skipping in a dancelike manner Riddler moved forward, clearly in a good mood. Why wouldn’t he be? He was free, Oswald was with them again and they were gonna take Sofia down, bond over a kill just like old times.  


“Guess what? I got smart again! Isn’t it brilliant?”

He called out in triumph.

 

“I desperately want you to meet my dear old friend Oswald. I believe that in a sense, know him, and I think you could become excellent friends once again.”  
  
  
A light further into the tunnel casted a shadow over a shape moving forward towards Edward.  
  
  
Riddler waited for him to be within hearing distance.

“There you are! Now, listen. Oswald and I are going to take Sofia down and we need you to, you know. Use those big arms and take her goons down.”

He playfully boxed the big pale man in the bicep, giggling of excitement already.  
  
  
Grundy reached out one bulky, veiny arm and before Riddler had a time to react he was pressed against the wet concrete walls.

The monster of a man, if he could be called that, tilted his head and cracked a small smile, a knowing smile.

Uh oh, Riddler thought, this wasn’t good.  
  
  
“You’re not the only one who got smart.”  
  
The chunky fingers tightened around Edwards neck further before Butch kicked the tall man in the stomach, quickly followed by a swift slap to his head, knocking him unconscious.  
  
He would have done a lot to just kill him right there for how he humiliated him when he wasn’t in his right mind, used him for money and entertainment. Though Butch had to see the bigger picture, he was more useful alive and he wanted to leave the green vegetable’s fate to Tabitha. Even though with Tabitha meant, whatever Barbara wants her to do...

  


***

  


Barbara Kean entered the Falcone home, dressed to the nines and a superior looking expression as usual.

“I have a gift for you in exchange of truce.”

She nodded behind her, Tabitha dragging a tightly tied up and gagged Edward, struggling to get loose.  
  
  
“Ugh stop squirming, you’re heavier than you look.”

Tabby shoved a leather covered heel into his stomach to shut him up. There was no mercy on the pain inflicted towards Ed today, Riddler thought… Yet, he couldn’t blame them for being cross with how he had acted lately.  
  
  
Sofia bent down to make sure Ed (or Riddler, he wasn’t even sure himself sometimes), could see her clearly, she merely moved her mouth around in thought.  
  
  
“He’s been working with Oswald again.”

Barbara filled in when Sofia didn’t instantly see the value of this kind offering from her.  
  
  
A tiny light went up in Miss Falcone’s eyes, and several more moments passed while she considered.

Part of Barbara wondered if she dragged it out just to mess with her.  
  
  
“Fine, I accept this peace offering, for now. Thank you Miss Kean.”

She waved the two women off enthusiastically while she kept her eyes on Nygma.  
  
  
“Now what are we gonna do with you…?”

  


***

  


Both personalities living within the man the world simply saw as Edward Nygma, breathed out a heavy groan and moved their tongue around their destroyed mouth. The torture was so severe that it was no use for the other to hide, there was nowhere to hide from the awful pain, so they endured it together. Some more willingly than others.  
  
  
There were so many thoughts swarming inside of them, a inner argument no one but them could hear, none of them paid any real attention to the torture meant to break them.  
Much too determined to keep Oswald safe, to execute their plan, remain loyal.  
Why were they doing this again? The guilt was eating them up, the attempt to kill him, four times even! If you count the acid dripping down onto the car which was mostly meant to scare him into his true colors, but he had to admit he wouldn’t have cared much if he had not pursued the man he sent in to save him in time.

Not that the plan had gone according to his calculations anyway, with Oswald refusing to give him up… Just like Edward wouldn’t now.  
  
  
Riddler forgave him, after all, it was nothing more than fair that he would. After Oswald had forgiven him over and over…  
  
Ed screamed in protest, not yet willing to admit it. Still sulking over the betrayal and striving for revenge, a revenge he no longer felt the burning passion for. Just… Disappointment? That the one he trusted more than anything had betrayed him, killed someone he knew was important to Ed, just to… He stopped for a moment. ...Just to keep him safe. Like he had once done to Miss Kringle when he killed officer Dougherty.  
  
All Oswald had done, was for them.  
  
  
  
A lanky looking bald man, dressed entirely in a pale shade of beige rubber clothes and apron, making him appear like the kind of dentist children had nightmares about, put down the bloody machine he had just used and picked up a scalpel to clean before resuming, just as Sofia entered the room, asking for progress without any words being spoken.  
  
“His strength of will is impressive… He won’t spill anything.”  
  
  
Sofia bent down to stare at Edward, thinking she looked intimidating. Riddler wanted to laugh, her attempts was poor and childlike. This was the woman he had heard so much about? That had hurt Thompkins and taken Penguin down? This little girl playing mob boss like her big daddy was? She was a joke, and he intended to treat her that way.  
  
  
“You will tell me where to find Penguin.”

She demanded.  
  
  
Edward closed his eyes for a second before looking back at her with a wide grin, his normal dazzling white teeth soaked red with blood, staining his mouth and far down the neck and collar of his shirt.

Oh this would be fun.

“Okay.” He agreed.  
  
  
He would tell her alright, but not as direct as she wanted. In fact he would make it a real challenge, Oswald deserved that much.

“I can be humerus, but I’m never funny!”   
  
He hoped she listened well, because if she did she would hear he said humerus and not humours, indicating the correct answer is a bone. Bones can break, and who’s there to fix them? Yes of course a doctor, naturally saying he is with the Doc.  
  
  
All he got from Miss Falcone was a sour expression. Fine, let’s step it up then.  
  
  
“I can be done with the teeth, the eyes or the mind. What am I?”

All three can be closed, a synonym for that is narrow. This one was almost too easy, in the Narrows!  
  
  
Sofia was clearly not amused by Nygma’s little game.

“Where is he? Tell me where to find Oswald Cobblepot!”

A sharp pain in Ed’s leg added to his already sore body as Sofia stabbed him with a scalpel she had taken from the torturer.  
  
  
“I am telling you but you’re just too stupid to figure it out!”

With the Doc in the Narrows, how hard could it be for someone supposedly so clever as she proclaimed herself to be?  
  
  
Luckily their little chat was interrupted when an awful rasping filled the big space, chilly air gusted in, making Edward shudder.

A smaller man hurried to Sofia while a big block of ice was dragged into the room.

“Miss Falcone, this man says he has Penguin?”  
  
  
Ed and Riddler stretched their head over their shoulder as far as they could in the restraints in an attempt to see what was going on, they could just catch a glimpse of the Penguin’s frozen frame inside.

From that moment, Ed could no longer deny it, and the two sides of Edward saw through shared eyes onto the man they call the Penguin, the one that had shown he was willing to sacrifice anything for them.

“Well, well Oswald…”

Their grin grew wide, a content display of the love from Oswald’s selfless act flowing through them, the concept of doing something that scared him so deeply… It was intoxicating, in a way, mixing with the pain lingering from the very fresh torture, blood still dripping from his chin.  
It was like the overcrowded turmoil of thoughts, ideas and information cramped into their head, spinning around too fast for anyone’s understanding, suddenly went quiet, replaced with one single thought. One mutual objective, Oswald Cobblepot.  
  
  
  
Sofia studied the frozen prison and tapped the ice curiously.

“Is he alive in there?”  
  
  
Victor Fries went to stand behind her, cold steam flowing from his suit, narrowed his eyes into the ice.

“Maybe?

I want 100 000 dollars for him.”  
  
  
“Pay the man.”

Sofia smirked with a pleased nod, things were playing right into her hand. People were simply giving her what she wanted. This was easier than she thought, why had her father struggled so much and lost his power over the city when she could make them dance like her own set of puppets in such a short amount of time?  
  
  
Fries was led away and Sofia called behind her as she headed out to see what was taking so long with bringing Mr. Penn. Sometimes it seemed like you needed to do the dirty work all by yourself.

 

The torturer of a dentist called after her.

“Uhm.. What about him?”  
  
  
Miss Falcone didn’t even turn around, but she did stop.

“Take him to the docks, shoot him and get rid of him. His services aren’t needed anymore.”  
  
  
  
Two of Sofia’s goons got Edward out of the chair, still tied up. He was not certain how he would escape, for once his mind was blank, no plan in sight. A nervous laughter escaped as they dragged him out of the room.

He had to admit, he was nervous about his oncoming fate, at the same time he felt at peace.  
Oswald would be safe, Lee couldn’t be far behind to take Sofia out for good. So why did it matter?  
They, Edward Nygma as a whole, would die for the man they now mutually admitted to loving.  
  
He had told Oswald then, and seeing him in the ice really did prove he had finally understood.  
After all, love was sacrifice.

 

  
***

 

  
The timer finally went off to let Oswald break loose of his temporarily frozen prison as the device melted the ice in no time.  
  
  
  
Gun clicked as the safety was turned off, the kingpin aiming the barrel into the bald scalp of the man before him.  
  
  
“Mr. Cobblepot..!”

He explained in surprised terror.  
  
  
“Where is she?!”

Oswald pressed the gun further into his head, frustration and impatience growing thin.  
  
  
“You don’t understand!”

The other man held up his hands, as if it would protect him from a bullet to his head.  
  
  
“Where. Is. She?!”

Shouting, Penguin smacked the bald man with the back of the gun, followed by a kick for extra motivation

He was outraged, shivering cold and desperate. On top of all still not certain where Ed was.  
  
  
The bald man curled up on the floor, crying out in pain, knowing not to aggravate Penguin further if he was going to have any chance of surviving.

“I’m afraid Miss Falcone went to find Mr. Penn, she left 10 minutes ago…”  
  
  
Cobblepot hit him again to ensure he won’t be getting any ideas to try anything as he calls Lee to tell her the news and to meet her at the special spa Mr. Penn was probably hiding at.  
  
  
But as he turned to leave, he saw Ed’s hat sitting on top of the table packed with terrible sharp tools, all wet with blood and clearly recently used.

Turning the gun to the other man again, fury bubbling inside him over the obvious fact that Ed had been there, tortured at that.

“Nygma was here!”  
  
  
The bald man spit out some blood.

“Miss Falcone tried to get him to turn on you.

He endured tremendous amount of pain. He wouldn’t give you up.”  
  
  
Oswald blinked a few times, Ed let himself get tortured… For him? Why would he do that, unless?

_Love is sacrifice, Oswald. It’s putting someone’s else needs before your own._

Those were the words he would never forget, and if Ed even so slightly believed in them himself, that would mean. No… It cannot be.

A stream of sudden warmth filled his still chilled body, fresh out of the ice. It was like the concept of Ed’s selfless act was enough to warm his heart that had seemed to have been frozen ever since the day he ordered Freeze to put Ed in his frosty prison.

“Where is he now?”

Where was the man who might yield feelings for him after all?  
  
  
“Her thugs took him to the docks. To kill him.”  
  
  
Oswald’s hold of the gun lowered for a moment, caught off guard by the comment. The torturer took advantage of the moment and leaped forward to disarm him, only to be shot in the head, Cobblepot barely even looked his way, yet he got a clean headshot.  
  
He… Did he really hear right? Sure ever since _he_ had been out rather than stupid old Ed, or was he really still stupid? They had gotten along better, but they could never be what they once were, no matter how much he wanted them to.   
  
  
He couldn’t leave him, Sofia would have to wait, the cops wouldn’t do anything else other than capture her anyway, and he had little faith in Lee’s capacity.

He left himself feel stunned by how easy it had been to just shrug off everything he had so obsessively worked towards, plotted for weeks now. To change his mind in a second at the notion of Edward’s life being in danger.  
Ed had always been right, love was his greatest weakness and it was the one thing that got him, time and time again.   
His mind wanted the revenge, but his heart needed the man he still held feelings for alive.  
  
  
Not wasting another minute on figuring out why, he hurried out to find his way to the all too familiar pier. He was beginning to wonder if there even was any other in Gotham?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one of the hardest chapters to write, I'll be honest. There were SO many emotions of the past, present and what could be spinning around BOTH Ed and Oswald. Then canon to take in mind with that and at the same time make the changes I do work, and not putting too much effort into non relevant parts of the side to the story I am telling... Hopefully it worked out.
> 
> I really wanna hear opinions, shower me with reactions!


	7. The pier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So many things left unsaid, causing a ripple effect of pain and suffering. So what would happen if they would be honest and speak their mind, for once in their lives?

Edward chuckled as the men carried him further out on the pier, oh that pier that held so many memories. It was ironic, wasn’t it? Maybe it was fate, maybe it was karma, if he believed in such.  
To be killed on the very pier he had shot Oswald, watched him drown surrounded by his own blood.

He laughed again.  
  
  
“What’s so funny? What humor do you find in your own upcoming death?”

One of the men kicked Nygma forward.  
  
  
The other one snickered, clearly up to something Ed was certain he would far from appreciate.

“Hey I got a riddle for you.  
What’s got a bullet in its’ head and sinks to the bottom of the river?  
You!”  
  
  
The goon’s laughter was weak, mocking and awful. Ed couldn’t stand listening to it, this would be how he would go. By the hands of two imbecilic nobodies.  
  
Ed was pushed to the ground, his knees hitting the hard concrete, not that any additional pain mattered at this point. Nygma spit out some blood from his freshly hurt mouth.

“The real torture, is that those idiotic words will be the last I ever hear.  
Just _do it_!”

Get it over with, he had enough suspense for a lifetime.  
  
  
  
Two shots was fired and Ed took a rapid last breath, but instead of the expected sharp pain, he watched the men fall limp to the ground.  
  
  
A figure closed in, holding up a gun. Still wearing his Arkham Asylum uniform under the coat Ed had given him.

“Oswald?  
But.. How? Sofia?”  
  
  
“I wouldn’t have been here in time.”

Penguin replied, limping forward, reaching out a hand to help Ed up.  
  
  
“You… Gave up your revenge for me?”

A spiral of countless ideas, conclusions spinned around Ed’s mind. His heart taking up the speed as well, making him feel like a unsteady wreck, not being able to calculate the next move.

Why was Oswald here? How had he known? Why would he give up the one thing he wanted more than anything in the world? Unless.. It wasn’t what he wanted most.  
  
  
Oswald smiled softly.

Love might make you weak, love might kill you. However without it, you’re not really alive.  
He rather live on the edge with someone on his side. Than alone, clawing his hands on the inside, trying not to lose his mind and last speck of humanity.

“You didn’t give me up.”

It wasn’t a question.  
  
  
“I… Couldn’t let them get to you. Not... Not after…”

Feeling at a rare loss for words, he wanted to say; _not after what you did for me_. Allowing himself to be frozen against everything, spoke volumes of the emotional growth Penguin had done. But he was left losing himself in Oswald, trying to comprehend what was happening.  
  
  
Oswald waited patiently, if it was something there he wouldn’t push it. He had already done that and remember where that got him? Shot, on this very pier.

Despite that, he took one step closer to Ed, desperately wanting to be near. He couldn’t help himself anymore, he didn’t care what had happened between them. If anything, it only made their bond stronger.  
  
“Trust is so very hard to find in Gotham, but I trust you, Ed.”  
  
  
Ed looked down at Oswald, allowing himself to fully take him in for probably the first time. Even wearing his dirty asylum uniform, probably hasn’t had a bath in weeks, hair long and messy, face full of lacerations… Ed swallowed. He had a never fading aura of power, authority. It was the feeling of danger that he’d once been drawn towards. The Penguin, to willingly take a known criminal and murderer into his own home.

Riddler’s approving whispers could be heard in his mind, admiring Oswald alongside him.

“Isn’t danger just delicious?”  
  
It reminded him of the times he was almost caught at the beginning of his road to crime… He admitted it then as he did now.   
  
“Beautiful.”

Finally moving to meet the eyes of who he could no longer deny was his soulmate.  
  
  
Oswald’s heart skipped a beat. Regardless of the already heated atmosphere, actually seeing it unfold before him was electrifying.

It was a strange sensation really, feeling as you cannot breathe until…  
For a moment he shifted his gaze from the deep brown eyes marveling him, down to Ed’s mouth, still bloody after the torture.   
Until you’ve locked lips with the one you long for…  
  
  
The smaller man took a shallow breath, feeling lightheaded. He grabbed Ed’s blazer, their eyes still locked, Edward lost, mesmerized by Oswald’s pale, piercing eyes.  
Standing on his toes, Oswald pulled Ed against him into a kiss.  
Nervous at first, Ed’s eyes widened, panicking. Then allowing himself to slow down, really feel Oswald’s sweet lips against his sore mouth… He closed his eyes and pulled Oswald closer, wrapping his arms around the waist of the trembling man he wanted more than anything.  
  
Blood stained Oswald’s face, dripping down between them. The bitter taste of iron in the wet blood couldn’t have tasted sweeter in his opinion.  
  
  
  
“Ed?”

It was a silent plead, uncharacteristically soft coming from the normally ruthless kingpin.  
  
  
“Please don’t ruin this, Oswald.”

Ed mumbled against him, still holding his new found lover in a tight embrace.  
  
  
Oswald’s smile stretching all the way up to his eyes, exposing the beginning of wrinkles framing his eyes in the most adorable way Edward had ever seen. Oh the details about Oswald he started seeing in new light, he would enjoy discovering them one by one for the rest of his life.  
  
  
“I forgive you.”

 _For everything_. Oswald added in his mind, a kind calm he didn’t think he had ever felt before spreading through his body.  
  
  
Ed pulled back, those were words he never thought he would hear from The Penguin. Suspecting there would be a lot of new things to unveil in the near future, all the things Oswald had buried deep inside of him. The things Ed had sworn to never admit to anyone.  
The many unspoken truths of the two very shielded men, slowly letting go of their well guarded walls, to open up their hearts for each other’s love.  
  
  
Ed lifted his right hand, as Riddler stepped forward to raise his left, if only in their shared mind.

Together they held Oswald’s face in a tender display and gave him a beaming, toothy smile that made the mob boss feel like he could melt into his arms at that very moment.

“I forgive **us**.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh. That's it, really! The end have come. Next chapter is a epilogue I hope you'll enjoy.
> 
> The truth is that the posting dates of this is not real. I started to write this in February 2018, and finished it August 2018. The plan was then later to post it each week but... Due to personal health issues, that didn't happen.  
> But it's finally posted in it's whole and I am SO happy for those who have been with me for this ride. 
> 
> This is actually the first real fic I wrote, and definitive my first multichapter. It was a journey to write and I learnt a lot along the way, things that show in other of my recent works (again, the dates of this doesn't apply to the actual writing).
> 
> Please comment or kudos or whatever if you liked it, show that you were here. I admit I am a sucker for attention like this but it's really hard to keep up motivation. And for those who have been here since the start, thank you! Endlessly thank you for reading. When I started to write this, which is, may I add. Before I even joined the fandom. I was just writing all on my own... I had no idea people would sit down and read this, actually like some version I came up with in my head.
> 
> One will hope this fix-it version was to your satisfaction.
> 
> And as always a big THANK YOU to [verovex](https://archiveofourown.org/users/verovex) and [KingpinCobblepot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theonlylucysaxon) for helping me edit this! It would have been a bigger mess than it is without you two.


	8. A new beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue.

Having caught up on the news of Sofia being in a coma, not expected to ever wake up, her grudges against Penguin slept with her, made things safe enough to finally be taken care of.  
  
  
  
“Where did you hide Martin?”

Oswald asked Ed.  
  
  
  
The two criminals started to make their way towards the little boy Oswald had grown so fond of, that he even went to Arkham for, refused to leave until he was safe.  
  
  
With everything Oswald was, Ed had not anticipated this part of him. He was many things, but a father figure was not one of first things he would have thought of to describe him. Yet it all seemed so natural to him. Maybe it was for those who had the favor of growing up with loving parents?

Where did this leave Ed, with the two of them supposedly together now? Three of them? Did this indicate they were some sort of misfit gangster family now?  
  
  
There was a lot of things still needing to be worked out, but the most important thing was nothing would ever be able to keep Edward and Oswald apart again.

  


***

  


“I kept him well nourished, filled the entire freezer with ice cream and acquired a few items to make sure he was properly stimulated. I read it’s important for kids to keep busy in their developing state.”

Ed rambled away, as usual, how his supposedly genius mind had worked this out perfectly.  
  
  
“You did WHAT?”

Oswald opened the apartment door in the safehouse Ed had chosen, and he almost choked on what waited on the other side.  
Bright colors, toys and children’s furniture, games, tv’s and general tech and everything a kid could ever dream of. A colorful mess, sore eyes for Oswald’s preference of the dull grayscale Gotham usually came with.   
  
In the middle of it all sat a small curly haired boy, surrounded by papers, drawing with all sorts of pens he had gotten his hands on. He looked over his shoulder to see who has entered, and his face lit up in hope when he laid his eyes on Oswald. Instantly getting up he ran over to throw himself into the arms of a very surprised mob boss.   
“Oh… There… It’s fine now, we’re here. She’s gone, you’re safe now.”   
  
  
Martin let go for a second to scribble something onto the notepad around his neck.

 _“Are you going leave me again?”_  
  
  
“No Martin, not this time. Let’s go home.”

After long consideration made with Edward on the way, they came to the conclusion that the best way to keep Martin safe was to personally protect him.  
  
  
Martin gave him a long astonished look of pure joy before lunging himself back into the arms of his adoptive crime lord father.

He had always dreamed of someone adopting him, but he knew deep down that he was too broken, too strange. People just felt pity for him. Not Oswald, he saw potential, loyalty, devotion.  
He saw him for who he was and loved him for it.  
  
  
Ed and Riddler watched with a smile of approval.

Despite their impeccable brain capacity, they had never anticipated this to happen. That they would stand here and be unanimous about something, that they could come together in united partnership to be what the world saw as Edward Nygma. Not just Ed, not just Riddler. They had been forced to admit they did accomplish far superior results working as a team, especially with their combined intelligence.

In the end there was only one reason, one person who had been the main motivation to this union. Oswald.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little soft nygmobbleflock (I love that name) with Martin for the end, to tie up loose ends where Martin ended up after Ed rescued him.
> 
> And what, what's this? I added this to a series? THAT'S RIGHT THERE'S A SEQUEL COMING!  
> I can't promise when I will post it, but it have been in the works for some time, I've just been distracted. The sequel will mostly be featuring a teen Martin, but there's a pretty obvious nygmob undertone to it which is crucial to the story.  
> Let me know if that's something you're interested in?
> 
> Thank you again for reading!


End file.
